Automating and reducing user input required for user session on writing and/or drawing system

ABSTRACT

A writing and/or drawing system including one or more user controllers, one or more sensors, one or more display devices, a remote system, and/or one or more setup computers each executing a setup application. The writing and/or drawing system may recognize when users come in range or go out of range and may receive one or more inputs from in range users. The writing and/or drawing system may automatically provide a user with access to information in the user&#39;s account when the user comes in range and may automatically save writing and/or drawing content to the user&#39;s account when the user goes out of range.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of priority to U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/846,550, filed on May 10, 2019,which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Field of Invention

Aspects of the present invention relate to writing and/or drawingsystems and methods. Some aspects of the present invention may relate towriting and/or drawing systems and methods managed by a remote system.

Discussion of the Background

Conventional writing and/or drawing systems provide insufficient ease ofuse for and/or inadequate content management for multiple users withdistinct user accounts.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the invention may address one or more shortcomings ofconventional writing and/or drawing systems by automating and/orreducing the user input required for users to start a user session on awriting and/or drawing system, access previous work, save work, and/orend the user session.

One aspect of the present invention relates to a sensor including acommunication interface and a controller. The controller may beconfigured to use the communication interface to receive a usercontroller (UC) identification conveyed by a UC. The UC identificationmay identify the UC. The controller may be configured to determinewhether an in range event has occurred with respect to the UC. Thecontroller may be configured to, if the in range event was determined tohave occurred with respect to the UC, use the communication interface toconvey the UC identification, a sensor identification, and an indicationthat an in range event occurred. The sensor identification may identifythe sensor.

In some aspects, the communication interface may include a firstwireless communication interface configured to communicate according toa first wireless communication protocol and a second wirelesscommunication interface configured to communicate according to a secondwireless communication protocol that is different than the firstwireless communication protocol. In some aspects, the controller may beconfigured to use the first wireless communication interface to receivethe UC identification conveyed by the UC and to use the second wirelesscommunication interface to convey the UC identification, the sensoridentification, and the indication that the in range event occurred.

In some aspects, determining that the in range event has occurred withrespect to the UC may include determining that the UC identificationthat identifies the UC is not in a list of UC identifications forcurrent in range UCs and determining that an in range condition is metfor the UC. In some aspects, the controller may be configured todetermine that the in range condition is met for the UC if thecontroller receives one or more packets that include the UCidentification that identifies the UC. In some aspects, the controllermay be configured to determine that the in range condition is met forthe UC if the controller receives one or more packets that include theUC identification that identifies the UC and have a signal strength thatis above an in range signal strength threshold.

In some aspects, the controller may be further configured to use thecommunication interface to receive a user input indication conveyed bythe UC and use the communication interface to convey the UCidentification, the sensor identification, and the user inputindication. In some aspects, the user input indication may include anidentification of a user input of the UC, and the user input indicationindicates that the user input of the UC was activated. In some aspects,the user input indication may include an identification of a button ofthe UC, and the user input indication may indicate that the button ofthe UC was pressed. In some aspects, the controller may use thecommunication interface to convey the UC identification, the sensoridentification, and the indication that the in range event occurred in afirst packet and may use the communication interface to convey the UCidentification, the sensor identification, and the user input indicationin a second packet.

In some aspects, the controller may be further configured to, afterdetermining that the in range event occurred with respect to the UC,determine whether an out of range event has occurred with respect to theUC. The controller may be further configured to, if the out of rangeevent was determined to have occurred with respect to the UC, convey theUC identification, the sensor identification, and an indication that anout of range event occurred. In some aspects, determining that the outof range event has occurred with respect to the UC includes determiningthat an out of range condition is met for the UC. In some aspects, thecontroller may be configured to determine that the out of rangecondition is met for the UC if the controller does not receive anypackets that include the UC identification that identifies the UC for athreshold amount of time, for each of N consecutive transmissionperiods, or for at least M of N consecutive transmission periods. Insome aspects, the controller may be configured to determine that the outof range condition is met for the UC if the controller does not receiveany packets that include the UC identification that identifies the UCand have a signal strength that is above an out of range signal strengththreshold for a threshold amount of time, for each of N consecutivetransmission periods, or for at least M of N consecutive transmissionperiods. In some aspects, determining that the out of range event hasoccurred with respect to the UC may further include removing the UCidentification for the UC from the list of UC identifications forcurrent in range UCs.

In some aspects, determining that the out of range event has occurredwith respect to the UC may further include reducing or preventing falseout of range events. In some aspects, determining that the out of rangeevent has occurred with respect to the UC may further includedetermining that a distribution of changes in signal strength of packetsreceived from the UC immediately prior to the UC going out of range ofthe sensor is within a threshold amount of one standard deviation from amean distribution of changes in signal strength of packets received bythe sensor from UCs immediately preceding the UCs going out of range ofthe sensor in true out of range events. In some aspects, determiningthat the out of range event has occurred with respect to the UC mayfurther include, if a distribution of changes in signal strength ofpackets received from the UC immediately prior to the UC going out ofrange of the sensor is determined to be not within a threshold amount ofone standard deviation from a mean distribution of changes in signalstrength of packets received by the sensor from UCs immediatelypreceding the UCs going out of range of the sensor in true out of rangeevents, determining that the UC does not reestablish communication withthe sensor within the predetermined amount of time.

In some aspects, the controller may use the communication interface toconvey the UC identification, the sensor identification, and theindication that the in range event occurred in a first packet and usesthe communication interface to convey the UC identification, the sensoridentification, and the indication that the out of range event occurredin a second packet.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method includingreceiving a user controller (UC) identification conveyed by a UC. The UCidentification may identify the UC. The method may include determiningwhether an in range event has occurred with respect to the UC. Themethod may include, if the in range event was determined to haveoccurred with respect to the UC, conveying the UC identification, asensor identification, and an indication that an in range eventoccurred. The sensor identification may identify a sensor.

In some aspects, the method may further include using a first wirelesscommunication interface that communicates according to a first wirelesscommunication protocol to receive the UC identification conveyed by theUC. In some aspects, the method may further include using a secondwireless communication interface that communicates according to a secondwireless communication protocol to convey the UC identification, thesensor identification, and the indication that the in range eventoccurred. The second wireless communication protocol may be differentthan the first wireless communication protocol.

In some aspects, determining whether the in range event has occurredwith respect to the UC may include: determining that the UCidentification that identifies the UC is not in a list of UCidentifications for current in range UCs, and determining that an inrange condition is met for the UC. In some aspects, determining that thein range condition is met for the UC may include determining that one ormore packets that include the UC identification that identifies the UCwere received. In some aspects, determining that the in range conditionis met for the UC may include determining that one or more packets thatinclude the UC identification that identifies the UC and have a signalstrength that is above an in range signal strength threshold werereceived.

In some aspects, the method may further include: receiving a user inputindication conveyed by the UC and conveying the UC identification, thesensor identification, and the user input indication. In some aspects,the user input indication may include an identification of a user inputof the UC, and the user input indication may indicate that the userinput of the UC was activated. In some aspects, the user inputindication may include an identification of a button of the UC, and theuser input indication may indicate that the button of the UC waspressed. In some aspects, the UC identification, the sensoridentification, and the indication that the in range event occurred maybe conveyed in a first packet, and the UC identification, the sensoridentification, and the user input indication may be conveyed in asecond packet.

In some aspects, the method may further include, after determining thatthe in range event occurred with respect to the UC, determining whetheran out of range event has occurred with respect to the UC. The methodmay further include, if the out of range event was determined to haveoccurred with respect to the UC, conveying the UC identification, thesensor identification, and an indication that an out of range eventoccurred. In some aspects, determining that the out of range eventoccurred with respect to the UC may include determining that an out ofrange condition is met for the UC. In some aspects, determining that theout of range condition is met for the UC may include determining that nopackets that include the UC identification that identifies the UC werereceived for a threshold amount of time, for each of N consecutivetransmission periods, or for at least M of N consecutive transmissionperiods. In some aspects, determining that the out of range condition ismet for the UC may include determining that no packets that include theUC identification that identifies the UC and have a signal strength thatis above an out of range signal strength threshold were received for athreshold amount of time, for each of N consecutive transmissionperiods, or for at least M of N consecutive transmission periods. Insome aspects, determining that the out of range event has occurred withrespect to the UC may further include removing the UC identification forthe UC from the list of UC identifications for current in range UCs.

In some aspects, determining that the out of range event has occurredwith respect to the UC may further include reducing or preventing falseout of range events. In some aspects, determining that the out of rangeevent has occurred with respect to the UC may further includedetermining that a distribution of changes in signal strength of packetsreceived from the UC immediately prior to the UC going out of range ofthe sensor is within a threshold amount of one standard deviation from amean distribution of changes in signal strength of packets received bythe sensor from UCs immediately preceding the UCs going out of range ofthe sensor in true out of range events. In some aspects, determiningthat the out of range event has occurred with respect to the UC mayfurther include, if a distribution of changes in signal strength ofpackets received from the UC immediately prior to the UC going out ofrange of the sensor is determined to be not within a threshold amount ofone standard deviation from a mean distribution of changes in signalstrength of packets received by the sensor from UCs immediatelypreceding the UCs going out of range of the sensor in true out of rangeevents, determining that the UC does not reestablish communication withthe sensor within the predetermined amount of time.

In some aspects, the UC identification, the sensor identification, andthe indication that the in range event occurred may be conveyed in afirst packet, and the UC identification, the sensor identification, andthe indication that the out of range event occurred may be conveyed in asecond packet.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a systemadapted to receive a user controller (UC) identification that identifiesa UC, a sensor identification that identifies a sensor, and an eventindication that indicates that an event occurred. The system may beadapted to use the sensor identification to identify an applicationrunning on a computer of a display device to which the sensor isconnected. The system may be adapted to use the UC identification todetermine a user identification with which the UC identification isassociated. The system may be adapted to determine whether the eventindication is for an in range event. The system may be adapted to, ifthe event indication is determined to be for an in range event, providethe application with access to information in a user account associatedwith the user identification.

In some aspects, the application may be a web application running in aweb browser of the computer of the display device to which the sensor isconnected. In some aspects, the information in the user accountassociated with the user identification may include one or more settingsfor the application running on the computer of the display device towhich the sensor is connected, and the system may be further adapted tocause the application to apply the user settings.

In some aspects, the information in the user account associated with theuser identification may include one or more files including previouswriting and/or drawing content. In some aspects, the controller may befurther configured to, if the event indication is determined to be foran in range event, cause the application to display a welcome messageincluding a username associated with the determined user identification.

In some aspects, the system may be further adapted to receive the UCidentification, the sensor identification, and a second event indicationthat indicates that a second event occurred. In some aspects, the systemmay be further adapted to: determine whether the second event indicationis for an out of range event; if the second event indication isdetermined to be for an out of range event, cause the application toreturn current writing and/or drawing content; receive the currentwriting and/or drawing content; and save the current writing and/ordrawing content in the user account associated with the useridentification. In some aspects, the system may be further adapted to,if the second event indication is determined to be for an out of rangeevent, cause the application to erase the current writing and/or drawingcontent. In some aspects, the system may be further adapted to, if thesecond event indication is determined to be for an out of range event,cause the application to lock itself.

In some aspects, the system may be further adapted to: determine whetherthe second event indication is for a user input event; if the secondevent indication is determined to be for a user input event, determinean action associated with the second event indication; and cause theapplication to perform the determined action. In some aspects, thesecond event indication that may be for a user input event comprises anidentification of a user input of the UC, and the action associated withthe second event indication may be determined based on theidentification of the user input of the UC. In some aspects, the userinput of the UC may be a button of the UC. In some aspects, thedetermined action may be one of toggle between pencil and eraser, undolast mark, copy board, and paste board.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a methodincluding receiving a user controller (UC) identification thatidentifies a UC, a sensor identification that identifies a sensor, andan event indication that indicates that an event occurred. The methodmay include using the sensor identification to identify an applicationrunning on a computer of a display device to which the sensor isconnected. The method may include using the UC identification todetermine a user identification with which the UC identification isassociated. The method may include determining whether the eventindication is for an in range event. The method may include, if theevent indication is determined to be for an in range event, providingthe application with access to information in a user account associatedwith the user identification.

In some aspects, the application may be a web application running in aweb browser of the computer of the display device to which the sensor isconnected. In some aspects, the information in the user accountassociated with the user identification may include one or more settingsfor the application running on the computer of the display device towhich the sensor is connected, and the method may further includecausing the application to apply the user settings.

In some aspects, the information in the user account associated with theuser identification may include one or more files including previouswriting and/or drawing content. In some aspects, the method may furtherinclude, if the event indication is determined to be for an in rangeevent, causing the application to display a welcome message including ausername associated with the determined user identification.

In some aspects, the method may further include using the communicationinterface to receive the UC identification, the sensor identification,and a second event indication that indicates that a second eventoccurred. In some aspects, the method may further include: determiningwhether the second event indication is for an out of range event; if thesecond event indication is determined to be for an out of range event,causing the application to return current writing and/or drawingcontent; receiving the current writing and/or drawing content; andsaving the current writing and/or drawing content in the user accountassociated with the user identification. In some aspects, the method mayfurther include, if the second event indication is determined to be foran out of range event, causing the application to erase the currentwriting and/or drawing content. In some aspects, the method may furtherinclude, if the second event indication is determined to be for an outof range event, causing the application to lock itself.

In some aspects, the method may further include the method may furtherinclude: determining whether the second event indication is for a userinput event; if the second event indication is determined to be for auser input event, determining an action associated with the second eventindication; and causing the application to perform the determinedaction. In some aspects, the second event indication that is for a userinput event may include an identification of a user input of the UC, andthe action associated with the second event indication may be determinedbased on the identification of the user input of the UC. In someaspects, the user input of the UC may be a button of the UC. In someaspects, the determined action may be one of toggle between pencil anderaser, undo last mark, copy board, and paste board.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a displaydevice comprising a communication interface, a display, and a computer.The display may include N screen tiles, where N is greater than or equalto 2. The computer may be configured to perform an open operationcomprising: using the communication interface to receive screencontents; partitioning the received screen content into N screen contentpartitions; and conveying one screen content partition to each of thescreen tiles.

In some aspects, the computer may be configured to partition thereceived screen content into the N screen content partitions accordingto a geometry and arrangement of the N screen tiles. In some aspects,the computer may be configured to perform a save operation comprising:receiving from each of the N screen tiles the screen content of thescreen tile; combining the screen contents of the N screen tiles; andusing the communication interface to convey the combined screencontents. In some aspects, the computer may be configured to combine thescreen contents of the N screen content partitions according to ageometry and arrangement of the N screen tiles.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a methodincluding using a communication interface of a display device to receivescreen contents. The method may include using a computer of displaydevice to partition the received screen content into N screen contentpartitions, where N is greater than or equal to 2. The method mayinclude using the computer of the display device to convey the N screencontent partitions to N screen tiles of a display of the display device.Each of the N screen tiles may receive a different one of the N screencontent partitions.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a screen tileincluding a neighbor tile interface, a tile display, a displaycontroller, one or more touch sensors, a touch controller, and a tilecontroller. The display controller may be configured to control the tiledisplay to display pixel data. The touch controller may be configured toreceive touch sensor data output from the one or more touch sensors. Thetile controller may be configured to: receive a touch input event fromthe touch controller; determine whether the touch input event affects aneighboring screen tile; and, if the touch input event is determined toaffect a neighboring screen tile, use the neighbor tile interface toconvey the touch input event to the affected neighboring screen tile.

In some aspects, the screen tile may further include a master controllerinterface. The tile controller may be configured to: use the mastercontroller interface to receive screen content; and use the displaycontroller to cause the tile display to display the received screencontent.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a methodincluding receiving a touch input event from a touch controller thatreceives touch sensor data output from one or more touch sensors of ascreen tile. The method may include using a tile controller of thescreen tile to determine whether the touch input event affects aneighboring screen tile. The method may include, if the touch inputevent is determined to affect a neighboring screen tile, using aneighbor tile interface to convey the touch input event to the affectedneighboring screen tile.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a computerprogram comprising instructions for adapting an apparatus to perform anyof the methods of the aspects set forth above. Yet another aspect of thepresent invention relates to a carrier containing the computer program,and the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radiosignal, or computer readable storage medium.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to an apparatuscomprising processing circuitry and a memory. The memory may containinstructions executable by said processing circuitry, whereby saidapparatus is operative to perform the method of any one of the aspectsset forth above.

Further variations encompassed within the systems and methods aredescribed in the detailed description of the invention below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form partof the specification, illustrate various, non-limiting aspects of thepresent invention. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicateidentical or functionally similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a writing and/or drawing systemembodying aspects of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are perspective and exploded views of a pen version of auser controller of a writing and/or drawing system embodying aspects ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 2C and 2D are perspective and exploded views of a pocket deviceversion of a user controller of a writing and/or drawing systemembodying aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 2E is a block diagram of a user controller of a writing and/ordrawing system embodying aspects of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are perspective and exploded views of a sensor of awriting and/or drawing system embodying aspects of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3C is a block diagram of a sensor of a writing and/or drawingsystem embodying aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a setup computer of a writing and/ordrawing system embodying aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a remote system of a writing and/or drawingsystem embodying aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a block diagram of a display device of a writing and/ordrawing system embodying aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 6B is a block diagram of screen tile of a display device of awriting and/or drawing system embodying aspects of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an apparatus of a writing and/or drawingsystem embodying aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a sensor process embodying aspectsof the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a remote system process embodyingaspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the present invention may be embodied in many different forms, anumber of illustrative aspects are described herein with theunderstanding that the present disclosure is to be considered asproviding examples of the principles of the invention and such examplesare not intended to limit the invention to preferred aspects describedherein and/or illustrated herein.

1. Writing and/or Drawing System

FIG. 1 illustrates a writing and/or drawing system 100 embodying aspectsof the present invention. In some embodiments, the writing and/ordrawing system 100 may include one or more user controllers (UCs) 102,one or more sensors 104, one or more display devices 106, a remotesystem 108, and/or one or more setup computers 110 each executing asetup application (“setup app”) 112. In some embodiments, the one ormore setup computers 110 may be any of a mobile phone (e.g.,smartphone), tablet, laptop, or other personal computer. In someembodiments, a display device 106 may include one or more computers 114and one or more displays 116. In some embodiments, the one or moredisplays 116 may include one or more touchscreens.

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may include one or more of adatabase, a file storage service, a web server, a server dedicated toin-memory data structures for real-time data transmission, andinstructions for caching content on proxy servers. In some embodiments,the web server may use software (e.g., web-based software). In someembodiments, the software may be writing and/or drawing software thatallows users to use the display device 106 for handwriting and drawingarbitrary shapes. In some embodiments, the display device 106 mayinclude one or more touchscreens, and the writing and/or drawingsoftware may use touch technology of the one or more touchscreens toprovide user input for the writing and/or drawing. In some web-basedsoftware embodiments, one or more web pages may serve the writing and/ordrawing software.

1.1 User Controller (UC)

In some embodiments, the one or more UCs 102 may be battery-poweredwireless devices. In some embodiments, the UC 102 may be carried by auser when interacting with a display device 106 via the writing and/ordrawing software. In some embodiments, a UC 102 may be a pen 102A (asshown in FIGS. 2A and 2B) or a pocket device 102B (as shown in FIGS. 2Cand 2D). In some embodiments, the pen 102A may be an enhanced stylus penwith which a user can provide input to touch-enabled screens, and thepocket device 102B may be a portable device (e.g., having a shape andsize that makes the pocket device 102 comfortable for a user to carry ina pocket of the user). In some embodiments, the UC 102 may have one ormore user inputs 208 (e.g., three buttons). In some embodiments, a usermay use a user input 208 (e.g., push a button) to cause execution of aspecific operation on one or more screens of the display device 106.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a UC 102 may be a pen102A that includes a housing 202, a cap 204, a printed circuit board(PCB) 206 on or in which one or more circuit elements may be mounted orfabricated, one or more user inputs 208 (e.g., buttons), a connector210, and/or a tip 212. In some embodiments, the connector 210 may be,for example and without limitation, a Universal Serial Bus (USB)connector. In some embodiments, the connector 210 may enable a wiredconnection to an external device, such as a power source (e.g.,recharger) and/or a personal computer (e.g., a smartphone). In someembodiments, the tip 212 may be used for writing and/or drawing on thedisplay device 106.

In some alternative embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 2C and 2D, a UC 102may be a pocket device 102B that includes a housing 202, an end piece204, a printed circuit board (PCB) 206 on or in which one or morecircuit elements may be mounted or fabricated, one or more user inputs208 (e.g., buttons), a connector 210, and/or a seal 214. In someembodiments, as shown in FIG. 2D, the housing 202 may include first andsecond portions 202 a and 202 b. In some embodiments, the connector 210may be, for example and without limitation, a Universal Serial Bus (USB)connector. In some embodiments, the connector 210 may enable a wiredconnection to an external device, such as a power source (e.g.,recharger) and/or a personal computer (e.g., a smartphone). In someembodiments, a user of the writing and/or drawing system 100 may use thepocket device 102B with a pen native to the display device 106.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2E, a UC 102 may include acontroller 216 (e.g., a microcontroller) and a communication interface218. In some embodiments, the communication interface 218 may include awireless communication interface configured to communicate according toa wireless communication protocol (e.g., a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)protocol). In some embodiments, the wireless communication interface mayinclude an antenna. In some embodiments, the UC 102 may be configureduse the communication interface 218 to communicate with a sensor 104connected to a display device 106.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2E, a UC 102 may include a battery220 and a charger integrated circuit (IC) 222. In some embodiments, thebattery 220 may provide power for one or more components of the UC 102(e.g., the controller 216 and the communication interface 218). In someembodiments, the charger IC 222 may receive power via the connector 210and use the power to recharge the battery 220 and/or power one or morecomponents of the UC 102. In some embodiments, the UC 102 may include afiltering and/or overcurrent protection circuit 211 configured to filterthe signal received via the connector 210 and/or provide overcurrentprotection. In some embodiments, the UC 102 may include an electrostaticdischarge (ESD) protection circuit 209 configured to protect thecontroller 216 from electrostatic discharge received through one or moreof the user inputs 208.

1.2 Sensor

In some embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a sensor 104 mayinclude a housing 302, a PCB 306 on or in which one or more circuitelements may be mounted or fabricated, and/or a connector 310. In someembodiments, the connector 310 may be, for example and withoutlimitation, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector. In some embodiments,the connector 310 may enable a wired connection from the sensor 104 toan external device, such as a display device 106. In some embodiments,the sensor 104 may receive power from and be powered by the displaydevice 106 through the connector 310. In some embodiments, the sensor104 may be additionally or alternatively powered by a power source(e.g., a battery) of the sensor 104. In some embodiments, the sensor 104may be configured to communicate with the display device 106 via theconnector 310.

In some embodiments, the sensor 104 may be configured to connect to theone or more computers 114 of the display device 106 via the connector310. In some embodiments, the one or more computers 114 of the displaydevice 106 may run the writing and/or drawing software.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3C, the sensor 104 may include acontroller 304 and a communication interface 308. In some embodiments,the controller 304 may include a main controller 304 a (e.g., a mainmicrocontroller) and a peripheral controller 304 b (e.g., a peripheralmicrocontroller such as, for example and without limitation a BLEmicrocontroller). In some embodiments, the communication interface 308may include one or more of a first wireless communication interface 308a configured to communicate according to a first wireless communicationprotocol, a second wireless communication interface 308 b configured tocommunicate according to a second wireless communication protocol thatis different than the first wireless communication protocol, and a thirdwireless communication interface 308 c configured to communicateaccording to a third wireless communication protocol. In someembodiments, the third wireless communication protocol may be the sameas the first wireless communication protocol. In some embodiments, thefirst wireless communication interface 308 a may be a BLE centralinterface, and the first wireless communication protocol may be, forexample and without limitation, a BLE protocol. In some embodiments, thesecond wireless communication interface 308 b may be a Wi-Fi interface,and the second wireless communication protocol may be a Wi-Ficommunication protocol (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 communication protocol). Insome embodiments, the third wireless communication interface 308 c maybe BLE peripheral interface, and the third wireless communicationprotocol may be, for example and without limitation, a BLE protocol. Insome embodiments, the first, second, and third wireless communicationinterfaces 308 a-308 c may include one or more antennas.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3C, the controller 304 andcommunication interface 308 may be separate components of the sensor104. However, this is not required, and, in some alternativeembodiments, a single component may provide the functions of both thecontroller 304 and communication interface 308. In some embodiments, asshown in FIG. 3C, the peripheral controller 304 b and the first wirelesscommunication interface 308 a may be separate components of the sensor104. However, this is not required, and, in some alternativeembodiments, a single component may provide the functions of both theperipheral controller 304 b and the first wireless communicationinterface 308 a. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3C, the maincontroller 304 a and the second and third wireless communicationinterfaces 308 b and 308 c may be separate components of the sensor 104.However, this is not required, and, in some alternative embodiments, asingle component may provide the functions of two or more of the maincontroller 304 a and the second and third wireless communicationinterfaces 308 b and 308 c.

In some embodiments, the main controller 304 a may use the secondwireless communication interface 308 b to connect to the Internet andcommunicate with the remote system 108. In some embodiments, the maincontroller 304 a may use the third wireless communication interface 308c to allow users to configure Wi-Fi network credentials and othersettings via the setup computer 110 (e.g., a mobile phone or smartphone)running the setup application 112. In some embodiments, the peripheralcontroller 304 b may use the first wireless communication interface 308a to listen on the wireless medium for any nearby UCs 102 andcommunicate with one or more UCs 102.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3C, the sensor 104 may include oneor more of a power supply section 305, a USB/Universal AsynchronousReceiver/Transmitter (UART) converter 306 between the connector 310 andthe main controller 304 a, and a filter 307 between the power supplysection 305 and the peripheral controller 304 b. In some embodiments,the power supply section 305 may receive power from the connector 310and provide power to components of the sensor 104.

In some embodiments, the sensor 104 does not communicate directly withthe computer 114 of the display device 106 to which the sensor 104 isconnected via the connector 310. In some embodiments, in order to createa univocal correspondence between a sensor 104 and a display device 106,a web browser cookie may be set on the user browser (UB) of the computer114 of the display device 106 on which the writing and/or drawingsoftware runs. In some embodiments, this cookie may contain a sensoridentification that identifies (e.g., uniquely) the sensor 104 connectedto the display device 106. In some embodiments, the cookie containingthe sensor identification may allow the writing and/or drawing softwareto know which sensor 104 is connected to the computer 114 of the displaydevice 106 that the writing and/or drawing software is serving. Anexample of a procedure to set a browser cookie on the UB of the computer114 using the remote system 108 is described below. In some alternativeembodiments, the sensor 104 may communicate directly with the computer114 of the display device 106 to which the sensor 104 is connected viathe connector 310 (e.g., to provide the writing and/or drawing softwarerunning on the computer 114 of the display device 106 with the sensoridentification that identifies the sensor 104 connected to the displaydevice 106).

1.3 Setup Application

In some embodiments, the setup application 112 executed by the setupcomputer 110 may be configured to perform the initial configuration of asensor 104. In some embodiments, the setup application 112 may beconfigured to initiate a sequence of events that places the sensoridentification that identifies (e.g., uniquely) the sensor 104 connectedto the display device 106 on the computer 114 of the display device 106(e.g., as a cookie on the browser of the computer 114 of the displaydevice 106 to which the sensor 104 is connected).

In some embodiments, the setup computer 110 may include a communicationinterface 404. In some embodiments, the communication interface 404 mayinclude one or more of a first wireless communication interface 404 aconfigured to communicate according to a first wireless communicationprotocol and a second wireless communication interface 404 b configuredto communicate according to a second wireless communication protocolthat is different than the first wireless communication protocol. Insome embodiments, the first wireless communication interface 404 a maybe a Bluetooth interface, and the first wireless communication protocolmay be, for example and without limitation, a Bluetooth protocol. Insome embodiments, the second wireless communication interface 404 b maybe a Wi-Fi interface, and the second wireless communication protocol maybe a Wi-Fi communication protocol (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 communicationprotocol). In some embodiments, the first and second wirelesscommunication interfaces 404 a and 404 b may include one or moreantennas. In some embodiments, the setup application 112 may use thecommunication interface 404 of the setup computer 110 to communicatewith the remote system 108 (e.g., a web server of the remote system 108)and/or with the sensor 104. In some embodiments, the setup application112 may communicate with the remote system 108 via an Internetconnection using the second wireless communication interface 404 b. Insome embodiments, the setup application 112 may communicate with thesensor 104 and/or the display device 106 via a BLE connection using thefirst wireless communication interface 404 a.

1.4 Remote System

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may include one or morecomputers and one or more data storage devices. In some embodiments, theremote system 108 may be configured to (i) run the writing and/ordrawing software, (ii) route UC events (e.g., in-range events and/oruser input events) to the writing and/or drawing software instancerunning on a browser of a computer 114 of given display device 106,and/or (iii) provide storage, organizational tools, and/or collaborationtools for text and drawings made by users via the writing and/or drawingsoftware.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5, the remote system 108 mayinclude one or more of a content delivery network (CDN) 502, a databasemanagement system (DMS) 504, a dedicated server 506, a file storageserver 508, and a web server 510. In some embodiments, the CDN 502 mayinclude cached content on one or more proxy servers. In someembodiments, the DMS 504 may be a relational DMS. In some embodiments,the dedicated server 506 may include one or more in-memory datastructures for real-time data transmission. In some embodiments, asshown in FIG. 5, one or more of the DMS 504, the dedicated server 506,and the file storage server 508 may communicate with the web server 510.In some embodiments, one or more of the CDN 502, the dedicated server506, the file storage server 508, and the web server 510 may communicatewith one or more display devices 106 (e.g., at least with user browserson computers 114 of one or more display devices 106).

In some embodiments, the DMS 504 included in the remote system 108 maycontain access credentials and other information for one or moreregistered users. In some embodiments, the DMS 504 may store acorrespondence (e.g., a univocal correspondence) between registeredusers and UCs 102.

In some embodiments, the web server 510 may communicate (e.g., directly)with the sensor 104 (e.g., with the controller 304 of the sensor 104 viathe second wireless communication interface 308 b of the communicationinterface 308 of the sensor 104). In some embodiments, the web server510 may communicate with the setup application 112 on the setup computer110 (e.g., via the second wireless communication interface 404 b of thecommunication interface 404 of the setup computer 110). In someembodiments, the web server 510 may communicate with the setupapplication 112 to initialize the sensor 104. In some embodiments, theweb server 510 may control the writing and/or drawing software. In someembodiments, the web server 510 may have read and/or write access to theDMS 504, the file storage server 508, and/or the dedicated server 506.

In some embodiments, writing and/or drawing software may be a set of webpages served by the web server 510. In some embodiments, the set of webpages of the writing and/or drawing software may contain software thatruns in a user browser on a computer 114 of a display device 106. Insome alternative embodiments, the display device 106 may download thewriting and/or drawing software. In some embodiments, a user browserrunning the writing and/or drawing software may allow a user to drawwith a pen (e.g., pen 102 a of FIGS. 2A and 2B) within with a boardspecific to the user's account upon arriving in proximity to the displaydevice 106. In some embodiments, after the sensor 104 has beeninitialized and the writing and/or drawing software has been activatedon the display device 106, the computer 114 may open and the display 116may display a board specific to the user's account without the usertaking any action other than approaching the display device 106 with aUC 102. In some embodiments, activating the writing and/or drawingsoftware may include providing the display device 106 (e.g., a computer114 of the display device 106) with a sensor identification thatidentifies the sensor 104 connected to the display device 106. In someembodiments, sensor identification may be provided as a cookie on theuser browser on the computer 114 of the display device 106 to which thesensor 104 is connected. In some embodiments, the web server 510 of theremote system 108 may use the sensor identification provided to thedisplay device 106 to properly execute actions in response tocommunications conveyed by the sensor 104 and received by the remotesystem 108. In some embodiments, the sensor identification may uniquelyidentify the sensor 104 attached to the display device 106.

1.5 Writing and/or Drawing Software

In some embodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may includeuser facing software. In some embodiments, the user facing software maybe in use when a user is working with the sensor 104 and UC 102. In someembodiments, when a user is engaged in a writing and/or drawing session,the writing and/or drawing software may allow a user to select one ormore of color, line width, pencil, eraser, and so on. In someembodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may provide the abilityto drag a selection of a drawing to another location. In someembodiments, the user interface of the writing and/or drawing softwaremay allow the user to concentrate on the user's own ideas instead ofsoftware options (e.g., by keeping visible options to a minimum). Insome embodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may automaticallysave drawing and writing on the board, erase the board, and lock thescreen (e.g., on the display 116 of the display device 106) after theuser walks away. In some embodiments, the screen may be locked untilanother user comes into proximity of the sensor 104. In someembodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may provide one or moremenus for one or more features of the writing and/or drawing software.In some embodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may enable auser to (i) save boards with their own custom names, (ii) save as tocreate a new name for an open board, (iii) access all saved boards ontheir account (e.g., by tag), (iv) share, download, or delete any of thesaved boards, and/or (v) erase the full board with or without savingand/or with or without leaving the “board file” the user is currentlyin. In some embodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may provideauto shape generation and/or handwriting conversion to typed text. Insome embodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may enable a userto quickly switch between pencil (e.g., with a selected or default linewidth), eraser (e.g., of a selected or default size), and/or color. Insome embodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may enable a userto quickly save and open new boards, undo the most recent curve, and/orerase a full board. In some embodiments, the user facing software of thewriting and/or drawing software may enable a user to update boards whenthe user is away from their UC 102 and/or sensor 104.

In some embodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may include aboard management interface. In some embodiments, the board managementinterface may be used by a user, for example and without limitation,when the user is not at the display device 106 (e.g., with a UC 102 inproximity of the sensor 104) and is organizing one or more saved boardson another computer (e.g., a laptop or desktop computer). In someembodiments, the board management interface of the writing and/ordrawing software may enable a user to (i) associate one or more tagswith each board, (ii) change board names, (iii) download boards, (iv)share boards over the web, (v) delete boards, and/or (vi) open a board.In some embodiments, a tag may be different than a folder at leastbecause a file can have more than one tag. In some embodiments, thewriting and/or drawing software may automatically provide one or moreuseful default tags (e.g., a “Default name” tag) on a board that wasautomatically saved upon an out-of-range event that occurs when a user'sUC 102 is no longer in proximity to the sensor 104. In some embodiments,the default name tag may allow a user to easily track which boards theuser might want to name with a custom name. In some embodiments, thetags may include a tag (e.g., a “Stick” tag) that keeps a board on thescreen of the display 116 of the display device 106 for an amount oftime (e.g., three minutes) after an out-of-range event (e.g., for thesake of avoiding unintentional board save/erase events during extendedwork sessions). In some embodiments, the tags may include a tag (e.g., a“Default” tag) that causes the writing and/or drawing software toautomatically open the tagged file (e.g., board) when the user comes inrange (e.g., when an in-range event for the user occurs). The “Default”tag may only be assigned to one file.

2. The User Controller (UC) to Sensor to Remote System to User Browser(UB) Chain of Communication

2.1 User Controller (UC) to Sensor Communication

In some embodiments, the UC 102 may use a wireless connection (e.g., aBLE connection) for communication (e.g., encrypted communication) withthe sensor 104 according to a first wireless communication protocol(e.g., the BLE protocol). In some embodiments, the UC 102 (e.g., thecontroller 216 of the UC 102) may use the communication interface 218 toconvey packets. In some embodiments, the UC 102 may store a UCidentification that identifies the UC 102, and the UC 102 may includethe UC identification in packets conveyed by the UC 102. In someembodiments, a sensor 104 may use the communication interface 308 (e.g.,the first wireless communication interface 308 a of the communicationinterface 308) to receive packets conveyed by one or more UCs 102 in theproximity of the sensor 104.

2.1.1 UC to Sensor Communication: In Range and Out of Range Events

In some embodiments, a UC 102 may periodically convey advertisingpackets (e.g., BLE advertising packets) to signal its presence. In someembodiments, the period for packet transmissions may be, for example,250 milliseconds. In some embodiments, the sensor 104 may continuouslyscan the wireless medium and receive advertising packets from any nearbyUC 102. In some embodiments, the controller 304 of the sensor 104 mayreceive advertisement packets from one or more UCs 102 via thecommunication interface 308 (e.g., the first wireless communicationinterface 308 a of the communication interface 308).

In some embodiments, the controller 304 (e.g., the peripheral controller304 b and/or the main controller 304 a) of the sensor 104 may determineif one or more UCs 102 are in range of the sensor 104. In someembodiments, the controller 304 may determine that a UC 102 is withinrange of the sensor 104 if the controller 304 determines that an inrange condition is met for the UC 102. In some embodiments, thecontroller 304 of the sensor 104 may determine whether the UCidentification of a UC 102 determined to be in range is in a list of UCidentifications for current in range UCs, and the controller 304 may addthe UC 102 to the list of UC identifications for current in range UCs ifthe UC 102 determined to be in range is not in the list of UCidentifications for current in range UCs. In some embodiments, thecontroller 304 may determine that an in range event has occurred withrespect to a UC 102 if the controller 304 determines that (i) the UCidentification of the UC 102 is not in the list of UC identificationsfor current in range UCs and (ii) the UC 102 is in range of the sensor104 (e.g., because the in range condition is met).

In some embodiments, the in-range condition may be the controller 304receiving one packet from the UC 102. In some embodiments, the packetmay be an advertising packet such as, for example and withoutlimitation, a BLE advertising packet. In some alternative embodiments,the in-range condition may be the controller 304 receiving more than onepacket (e.g., more than one advertising packet) from the UC 102. Forexample, in some alternative embodiments, the in-range condition may bethe controller 304 receiving from the UC 102 one packet (e.g.,advertising packet) in each of N consecutive transmission periods, whereN>1 (e.g., in each of two, three, or four consecutive transmissionperiods). For another example, in some alternative embodiments, thein-range condition may be the controller 304 receiving from the UC 102one packet (e.g., advertising packet) in at least M of N consecutivetransmission periods, where M>1, N>1, and M<N (e.g., in at least 2 of 3consecutive transmission periods, in at least 3 of 4 consecutivetransmission periods, or in at least 3 of 5 consecutive transmissionperiods). For yet another example, the in-range condition may be thecontroller 304 receiving from the UC 102 at least N packets (e.g., Nadvertising packets) in a time period T, where N>2 and T>250 ms (e.g.,at least 2 packets in 500 ms, at least 3 packets in 1 second, or atleast 4 packets in 1.5 seconds).

In some alternative embodiments, the in-range condition may have asignal strength (e.g., received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or RX)cutoff. In some signal strength cutoff embodiments, the in-rangecondition may be the controller 304 receiving from the UC 102 one packet(e.g., a BLE advertising packet) having a signal strength (e.g., asindicated by the RSSI value of the packet) above a signal strengththreshold (e.g., an RSSI or RX threshold value). In some embodiments,the packet may be an advertising packet such as, for example and withoutlimitation, a BLE advertising packet. In some embodiments, the signalstrength threshold may be, for example and without limitation, −90 dBm.However, other signal strength thresholds may be used. In somealternative signal strength cutoff embodiments, the in-range conditionmay be the controller 304 receiving from the UC 102 more than one packet(e.g., advertising packet) having a signal strength above the signalstrength threshold. For example, in some alternative signal strengthcutoff embodiments, the in-range condition may be the controller 304receiving from the UC 102 one packet (e.g., advertising packet) having asignal strength above the signal strength threshold in each of Nconsecutive transmission periods, where N>1 (e.g., in each of two,three, or four consecutive transmission periods). For another example,in some alternative signal strength cutoff embodiments, the in-rangecondition may be the controller 304 receiving from the UC 102 one packet(e.g., advertising packet) having a signal strength above the signalstrength threshold in at least M of N consecutive transmission periods,where M>1, N>1, and M<N (e.g., in at least 2 of 3 consecutivetransmission periods, in at least 3 of 4 consecutive transmissionperiods, or in at least 3 of 5 consecutive transmission periods). Foryet another example, the in-range condition may be the controller 304receiving from the UC 102 at least N packets (e.g., N advertisingpackets) having a signal strength above the signal strength threshold ina time period T, where N>2 and T>250 ms (e.g., at least 2 packets in 500ms, at least 3 packets in 1 second, or at least 4 packets in 1.5seconds).

In some embodiments, the controller 304 of the sensor 104 (e.g., theperipheral controller 304 b and/or the main controller 304 a) maydetermine whether one or more UCs 102 that were previously determined tobe within range of the sensor 104 are out of range of the sensor 104. Insome embodiments, the UC identifications of one or more UCs 102 thatwere previously determined to be within range of the sensor 104 may bein the list of UC identifications for current in range UCs. In someembodiments, the controller 304 may determine that a UC 102 that waspreviously determined to be within range of the sensor 104 is out ofrange of the sensor 104 if the controller 304 determines that an out ofrange condition is met for the UC 102. In some embodiments, thecontroller 304 of the sensor 104 may remove the UC identification of theUC 102 from the list of UC identifications for current in range UCs ifthe controller 304 determines that the UC 102 is out of range of thesensor 104 (e.g., because the out of range condition is met). In someembodiments, the controller 304 may determine that an out of range eventhas occurred with respect to a UC 102 if the controller 304 determinesthat (i) the UC identification for the UC 102 is in the list of UCidentifications for current in range UCs and (ii) the UC 102 is out ofrange of the sensor 104 (e.g., because the out of range condition ismet).

In some embodiments, the out of range condition may be the controller304 not receiving any packets (e.g., advertising packets) from a UC 102for a threshold amount of time (e.g., 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 2, or 3seconds), for each of N consecutive transmission periods, or for atleast M of N consecutive transmission periods. In some alternativeembodiments, the out of range condition may be the controller 304 notreceiving from a UC 102 any packets (e.g., advertising packets) having asignal strength (e.g., as indicated by the RSSI or RX value of thereceived packet) above a signal strength threshold (e.g., an RSSI or RXthreshold value) for a threshold amount of time, for each of Nconsecutive transmission periods, or for at least M of N consecutivetransmission periods. The signal strength threshold may be, for exampleand without limitation, −90 dBm. However, other signal strengththresholds may be used.

In some embodiments (regardless of whether the out of range conditionincludes a signal strength threshold), determining that an out of rangeevent has occurred may include one or more steps to reduce theoccurrence of false out of range events (e.g., where the controller 304determines an out of range event to have occurred when the UC 102 hasnot actually gone out of the proximity of the sensor 104). In someembodiments, reducing false out of range events may include thecontroller 304 determining whether the signal strength (e.g., RSSI or RXvalues) of one or more of the packets most recently received by thesensor 104 from the UC 102 before the UC 102 went out of range of thesensor 104 (e.g., as indicated by the out of range condition being met)is similar to the signal strength of one or more of the packets mostrecently received by the sensor 104 before a true out of range event. Insome embodiments, if the signal strength of the one or more of thepackets most recently received by the sensor 104 from the UC 102 beforethe UC 102 went out of range of the sensor 104 is not similar to thesignal strength of one or more of the packets most recently received bythe sensor 104 before a true out of range event, the controller 304 mayconfirm that the UC 102 does not come back within range of the sensor104 for a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 seconds)before determining that an determining that an out of range event hasoccurred.

In some embodiments, determining that an out of range event has occurredwith respect to a UC 102 may include the controller 304 (i) determininga distribution of changes in the signal strength (e.g., RSSI or RXvalue) of one or more of the packets most recently received by thesensor 104 from the UC 102 before the UC 102 went out of range of thesensor 104 (e.g., as indicated by the out of range condition being met)and (ii) determining whether the current distribution of changes iswithin a threshold amount (e.g., 200%) of one standard deviation from amean distribution of changes in the signal strength of one or more ofthe packets received by the sensor 104 from UCs 102 immediatelypreceding the UCs 102 going out of range of the sensor 104 in true outof range events. In some embodiments, the distribution of changes may bedetermined by taking the difference between contiguous strength valuesto build the delta R values. In some embodiments, the signal strengthvalues for the packets received from the UC 102 in a period of time(e.g., 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, or 2.0 seconds) before the UC 102 went out ofrange of the sensor 104 to determine the distribution of changes in thesignal strength. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 maycalculate and convey the standard deviation and the mean of thedistribution of the changes in the signal strength of one or more of thepackets received by the sensor 104 from UCs 102 immediately precedingthe UCs 102 going out of range of the sensor 104 in true out of rangeevents, and the sensor 104 may receive and store the standard deviationand the mean conveyed by the remote system 108.

In some embodiments, if the current distribution of changes is withinthe threshold amount of the standard deviation from the meandistribution, the controller 304 of the sensor 104 may determine that anout of range event for the UC 102 occurred. However, if the currentdistribution of changes is not within the threshold amount of thestandard deviation from the mean distribution, the controller 304 of thesensor 104 may confirm that the UC 102 does not come back within rangeof the sensor 104 for a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4,or 5 seconds) before determining that an out of range event for the UC102 occurred. In these embodiments that reduce the occurrence of falseout of range events, the controller 304 may determine that an out ofrange event has occurred with respect to a UC 102 if the controller 304determines that (1) the UC identification of the UC 102 is in the listof UC identifications for current in range UCs, (2) the UC 102 is out ofrange of the sensor 104 (e.g., because the out of range condition ismet), and (3) either (3A) the distribution of changes in the signalstrength of packets received from the UC 102 immediately prior to the UC102 going out of range of the sensor 104 is within the threshold amountof the standard deviation from the mean distribution or (3B) the UC 102does not reestablish communication with the sensor 104 within thepredetermined amount of time.

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may calculate, for each ofthe one or more sensors 104 of the writing and/or drawing system 100, astandard deviation and a mean of a distribution of changes in signalstrength of one or more of the packets received by the sensor 104 fromUCs 102 immediately preceding the UCs 102 going out of range of thesensor 104 in true out of range events. In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may use a machine learning algorithm (e.g., a stochasticmachine learning algorithm) to calculate the standard deviation and themean.

In some embodiments, the environment unique to a given sensor 104 and/orthe orientation of a UC 102 relative to a sensor 104 may cause changesin signal strength. In some embodiments, fluctuations in signal strengthmay additionally occur naturally during operation of the hardware evenif the UC 102 does not move. In some embodiments, the remote system 108may analyze the signal strength of packets received by sensors 104 fromUCs 102 to reduce of the occurrence of false in range and/or out ofrange events (e.g., in which a UC 102 has not actually come into or goneout of the proximity of a sensor 104). In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may calculate the standard deviation and the mean such thatchanges in signal strength due to true/actual in range and out of rangeevents (in which a UC 102 comes into or goes out of the proximity of asensor 104) can be distinguished from changes in signal strength due tothe environment of the sensor 104, the relative orientation of the UC102 and sensor 104, and/or the natural fluctuations. In someembodiments, the remote system 108 may use a stochastic machine learningalgorithm that can teach itself to ignore signal strength fluctuationsdue to changes in relative orientation of the UC 102 and sensor 104and/or environmental factors (e.g., room geometry and/or traffic). Insome embodiments, the standard deviation and the mean may be calculatedto reduce and/or eliminate false in/out of range events. In someembodiments, the remote system 108 may apply the machine learningalgorithm to each sensor 104 individually so as not to mix data fromdifferent sensor environments. In some embodiments, machine learningdone for a given sensor 104 may have no bearing on the machine learningdone for another sensor 104 of the system 100.

In some embodiments, a sensor 104 may convey (e.g., periodically)packets each containing a sensor identification that identifies theparticular sensor 104, a signal strength value (e.g., an RSSI or RXvalue) of a packet received from a particular UC 102, and a UCidentifier that identifies the UC 102. In some embodiments, sensor 104may receive the UC identifier in the packet received from the UC 102(e.g., using the first wireless communication interface 308 a of thecommunication interface 308). In some embodiments, the controller 304 ofthe sensor 104 may convey the packets using the communication interface308 (e.g., using the second wireless communication interface 308 b ofthe communication interface 308).

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may receive the packets eachcontaining a sensor identification, a signal strength value, and a UCidentifier. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may use UCidentifiers received in the packets to avoid irrelevant calculationsthat would come from comparing signal strength values from different UCs102 that are in range of a sensor 104. In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may store the sensor identifications, signal strength values,and UC identifiers received in the packets as training data. In someembodiments, the remote system 108 may keep separate collections foreach UC 102 from which a sensor 104 receives one or more packets. Insome embodiments, the remote system 108 may delete new, incoming data ifthe remote system 108 has determined that the new data is no longerinfluencing the machine learning algorithm, and the remote system 108may begin deleting incoming data to save space as soon as the data isprocessed.

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may use the machine learningalgorithm to learn what pattern of signal strength values precedes falseout of range events and/or what pattern of signal strength valuesprecedes true out of range events. The remote system 108 may accomplishthis because the changes in signal strength (e.g., RSSI or RX) valuespreceding false out of range events (e.g., out of range events caused bysignal strength fluctuations due to changes in the relative orientationof the UC 102 and sensor 104 and/or environmental factors) differ fromthe changes in signal strength preceding a true out or range event(e.g., an out of range event caused by the user of the UC 102 walkingaway from the sensor 104).

In some embodiments, as the amount of the training data increases, usingthe machine learning algorithm, the remote system 108 may increase itsability to rule out false out of range events. In some embodiments usingthe machine learning algorithm, the remote system 108 may internallycreate a histogram that tracks the distribution of changes in signalstrength values (ΔR) immediately preceding an out of range event. Insome embodiments, the distribution may be multimodal where each mode(e.g., each range of ΔR with a high frequency (statistically speaking)of values) represents a different cause of an out of range event. Insome embodiments, the histogram may be visualized as a ΔR horizontalaxis and a frequency vertical axis. The algorithm and the underlying ΔRvalues may both be discrete, so segments of ΔR ranges may be used tocreate bins, and the frequencies may be added up per bin. In someembodiments, the frequency of ΔR values for a given bin corresponds tohow many ΔR values fall within the range of ΔR values that are includedin the segment of the horizontal access corresponding to that bin.

As the bin width decreases, the likelihood of the bin missing a mode mayalso decrease. In some embodiments, when the bin width is sufficientlysmall, using the machine learning algorithm, the remote system 108 mayassess which of the modes correspond to false out of range events and/orwhich of the modes correspond to true out of range events. In someembodiments, to do this, the remote system 108 may take advantage of thevast majority of false out of range events being followed by the UC 102coming back in range rather quickly (e.g., after the environmentaldistraction is no longer effecting the signal, or after the UC 102 is nolonger rotating). In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may alsotake advantage of the vast majority of true out of range events notbeing followed by the UC 102 coming back in range (e.g., at least overthe ensuing seconds, assuming the user walked away from the sensor 104after finishing use of the display device 106). In some embodiments, fora given UC 102, the remote system 108 may convert the last severalsignal strength values (e.g., the signal strength values for the packetsreceived from the UC 102 in a period of time, such as 1 second, beforethe out of range event) into ΔR values, increment the appropriate bins,and then determine whether the UC 102 that has gone out of range of thesensor 104 comes back into range of the sensor 104 within a few seconds.In some embodiments, if the UC 102 does not come back into range, theremote system 108 may increment a tally that tracks the event as a trueout of range event. In some embodiments, if instead the sensor 104starts receiving communications from the UC 102 within a few seconds,the remote system 108 may increment a similar tally that tracks theevent as a false out of range event.

In some embodiments, the tallies to track false and true out of rangeevents may be done by creating two histograms. In some embodiments, bothhistograms may have the same binning that the ΔR histogram has, but onehistogram may keep data for false out of range events, and the otherhistogram may keep data for true out of range events. In someembodiments, after the remote system 108 has a sufficiently large set oftraining data for a sensor 104, there may be a unimodal distribution inthe histogram for the true out of range events (e.g., where the spreadis mostly due to different rates of people walking away).

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may consider the trainingdata sufficiently large for use (i.e., “converged”) when changes in themean and the standard deviation of the unimodal distribution for thetrue out of range events have become extremely small with the additionof new entries to the unimodal distribution for true out of rangeevents. In some embodiments, after convergence, the remote system 108may convey the mean and the standard deviation for the unimodaldistribution.

In some embodiments, the controller 304 (e.g., the main controller 304a) of the sensor 104 may receive the mean and the standard deviation forthe distribution of changes in signal strength values associated withcommunications received just before true out of range events using thecommunication interface 308 (e.g., the second wireless communicationinterface 308 b). In some embodiments, the controller 304 may store thereceived mean and standard deviation. In some embodiments, thecontroller 304 (e.g., the main controller 304 a) of the sensor 104 mayuse the mean and standard deviation values to reduce false out of rangeevents.

In some embodiments, the controller 304 of the sensor 104 may calculateΔR values (e.g., in real time) for incoming signal strength (e.g., RSSI)values from each UC 102. If the calculated ΔR values for a UC 102 arenot within a certain fraction of the received standard deviation fromthe received mean ΔR value (which corresponds to true out of rangeevents), the controller 304 waits to alert the remote system 108 thatthe UC 108 is out of range until the UC 102 has been sending no packets(or only sub-signal strength threshold packets for signal strengthcutoff embodiments) for a predetermined amount of time (e.g., severalseconds). In some embodiments, if the in range connection between the UC102 and the sensor 104 is reestablished within the amount of time (asexpected), the sensor 104 may not determine that an out of range eventoccurred and, therefore, may not inform the remote system 108 of thefalse out of range event for the UC 102. As a result, the remote system108 (and therefore the writing and/or drawing software session on a userbrowser of the display device 106) do not take action based on the falseout of range event.

In some embodiments, the mean and the standard deviation for thedistribution of changes in signal strength values associated withcommunications received just before true out of range events calculatedfor a sensor 104 may be specific to the signal strength threshold beingused by the sensor 104 in determining out of range events (or to thecondition that sensor 104 is not using a signal strength threshold indetermining out of range events). In some embodiments, new values forthe mean and standard deviation would need to be calculated if thesensor 104 changes (e.g., increases or decreases) the signal thresholdin determining out of range events, starts using a signal strengththreshold in determining out of range events, or stops using a signalstrength threshold in determining out of range events. In someembodiments, the sensor 104 may inform the remote system 108 whether thesensor 104 is using a signal strength threshold in determining out ofrange events and, if so, what the signal strength threshold is. In someembodiments, the remote system 108 may use the threshold levels, or thelack thereof, as a parameter for determining whether sub thresholdvalues should be excluded from the training data or whether all valuesshould be used respectively. In some embodiments, the sensor 104 maymerely inform the remote system 108 when changes are made with respectto whether a signal strength threshold is being used or to what thesignal strength threshold is. In some embodiments, if any changes aremade with respect to a signal strength threshold used by a sensor 104 indetermining out or range events, the remote system 108 may delete thetraining data the remote system 108 has previously acquired from thesensor 104 and restart the process of learning the standard deviationand mean values associated with communications received just before trueout of range events.

In some embodiments (regardless of whether the in range conditionincludes a signal strength threshold), similar to determining whether anout of range event has occurred, determining whether an in range eventhas occurred may include one or more steps to reduce the occurrence offalse in range events (e.g., where the controller 304 determines an inrange event to have occurred when the UC 102 has not actually comewithin the proximity of the sensor 104).

2.1.2 User Controller (UC) to Sensor Communication: User Input Events

In some embodiments, when a user activates a user input 208 (e.g.,pushes a button) of the UC 102, the UC 102 (e.g., the controller 216 ofthe UC 102) may convey an identification of the user input 208 (e.g., anumerical value assigned to the user input 208). In some embodiments,the UC 102 may convey the identification of the user input 208 with theUC identification that identifies the UC 102. In some embodiments, theUC 102 may convey the identification of the user input 208 and the UCidentification using the communication interface 218.

In some embodiments, the sensor 104 (e.g., the controller 304 of thesensor 104) may receive the identification of the user input 208 and theUC identification that identifies the UC 102 from which theidentification of the user input 208 and the UC identification wereconveyed. In some embodiments, the sensor 104 may receive theidentification of the user input 208 and the UC identification using thecommunication interface 308 (e.g., the first wireless communicationinterface 308 a, which may be a BLE central interface). In someembodiments, if the sensor 104 receives an identification of a userinput 208, the sensor 104 (e.g., the controller 304 of the sensor 104)may determine that a user input event has occurred.

In some embodiments, the sensor 104 may establish a connection (e.g., aBLE connection) with the UC 102 after the UC 102 reports (e.g., via itsadvertising packets) that a user input 208 has been activated. In someembodiments, after the connection has been established, the sensor 104may request the UC 102 to identify which user input 208 has beenactivated, and the UC 102 may respond with the identification of theuser input 208. In some embodiments, the sensor 104 may close theconnection after receiving the identification of the user input 208.

2.2 Sensor to Remote System Communication

In some embodiments, when the controller 304 of the sensor 104 receivespackets conveyed by one or more UCs 102 in the proximity of the sensor104, the controller 304 may identify in each packet a UC identificationthat identifies the UC 102 that conveyed the packet. In someembodiments, the controller 304 may identify for each packet a signalstrength value (e.g., an RSSI or RX value). In some embodiments, foreach packet that contains an identification of a user input 208 of theUC 102 that conveyed the packet, the controller 304 may identify theidentification of the user input 208. In some embodiments, theperipheral controller 304 b (e.g., BLE microcontroller) may receive thepackets conveyed by one or more UCs 102 in the proximity of the sensor104, and the peripheral controller 304 b may identify in each packet theUC identification, the signal strength value, and an identification of auser input 208 (if present in the packet). In some embodiments, theperipheral controller 304 b may pass the UC identification and theidentification of a user input 208 (if present) to the main controller304 a. In some embodiments, the peripheral controller 304 b mayadditionally pass the signal strength value to the main controller 304a.

In some embodiments, if the controller 304 of the sensor 104 determinesthat an in range event has occurred with respect to a UC 102, thecontroller 304 (e.g., the main controller 304 a) of the sensor 104 mayuse the communication interface 308 (e.g., the second wirelesscommunication interface 308 b of the communication interface 308, whichmay be a Wi-Fi interface) to convey the received UC identification thatidentifies the UC 102, a sensor identification that identifies thesensor 104, and an indication that an in range event occurred (e.g., inan information packet). In some embodiments, if the controller 304(e.g., the peripheral controller 304 b) of the sensor 104 determinesthat an out of range event has occurred with respect to a UC 102, thecontroller 304 (e.g., the main controller 304 a) of the sensor 104 mayuse the communication interface 308 (e.g., the second wirelesscommunication interface 308 b of the communication interface 308) toconvey the received UC identification that identifies the UC 102, asensor identification that identifies the sensor 104, and an indicationthat an out of range event occurred (e.g., in an information packet). Insome embodiments, if the controller 304 (e.g., the peripheral controller304 b) of the sensor 104 determines that a user input event has occurredwith respect to a UC 102, the controller 304 (e.g., the main controller304 a) of the sensor 104 may use the communication interface 308 (e.g.,the second wireless communication interface 308 b of the communicationinterface 308) to convey the received UC identification that identifiesthe UC 102, a sensor identification that identifies the sensor 104, andthe received identification of the user input 208 of the UC 102 (e.g.,in an information packet). In some embodiments, the remote system 108may receive the information (e.g., the UC identification, the sensoridentification, and the event type indication) conveyed by the sensor104. In some embodiments, the controller 304 (e.g., the main controller304 a) of the sensor 104 may perform encrypted communication (e.g., overWiFi) with the remote server 108. In some embodiments, the sensor 104and remote server 108 may communicate using a WebSocket applicationprogramming interface (API).

In some embodiments, for all in range, out of range, and user inputevents, the peripheral controller 304 b of the sensor 104 may pass theevent type indication (in range indication, out of range indication, orthe identification of the user input 208) and the UC identification tothe main controller 304 a of the sensor 104. In some embodiments, thecontroller 304 (e.g., the main controller 304 a) may concatenate theevent type indication and UC identification with sensor identificationthat identifies the sensor 104. In some embodiments, the sensoridentification may be stored on the sensor 104. In some embodiments, themain controller 304 a may convey the information in one or more packetsthat are sent over a WebSocket connection to the web server 510 of theremote system 108. In some embodiments, this packet of information maybe a WebSocket packet. In some embodiments, the packet may contain theUC identification that identifies the UC 102 and was received by thesensor 104, the sensor identification that identifies the sensor 104,and an event indication that indicates the type of event that occurred(an in range event, an out of range event, or a user input event inwhich an identified one of the one or more user inputs 208 was used).

2.3 Remote System to Display Device Communication

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may associate each of the UCidentifications that identify the UCs 102 of the system 100 with a useridentification that identifies a user of the system 100. In someembodiments, if a user owns multiple UCs 102, the multiple UCidentifications may be associated with the user identification of theuser. In some embodiments, if a new UC 102 for the first time comeswithin range of a sensor 104 that is attached to a display device 106that is running writing and/or drawing software, the remote system 108may receive the UC identification that identifies the new UC 102 (e.g.,in a packet conveyed by the sensor 104 that additionally includes asensor identification that identifies the sensor 104 and an indicationthat an in range event occurred). In some embodiments, the remote system108 may recognize that the UC identification that identifies the new UC102 is not yet associated with a user. In some embodiments, when thishappens, the remote system 108 may route the writing and/or drawingsoftware running on the display device 106 to which the sensor 104 isattached to a screen for entering the user's credentials, and the remotesystem 108 may receive the entered user credentials from the displaydevice 106 and associate the UC identification that identifies the newUC 102 with the user identification that identifies the user (asindicated by the user's credentials).

In some embodiments, when the web server 510 of the remote system 108receives a packet (e.g., a WebSocket packet) conveyed by a sensor 104,the web server 510 may save the incoming data on the dedicated server506 that includes one or more in-memory data structures for real-timedata transmission. In some embodiments, the writing and/or drawingsoftware running on a computer 114 of a display device 106 (e.g., on auser browser of the computer 114) may be continuously connected to theweb server 510 on the remote system 108 (e.g., using a WebSocketconnection that is distinct from the WebSocket connection between theweb server 510 and the sensor 104).

In some embodiments, when the in-memory structures for real-time datatransmission of the dedicated server 506 of the remote system 108 areupdated by a packet conveyed by a sensor 104, the web server 510 of theremote system 108 may use the sensor identification that identifies thesensor 104 that conveyed the packet to identify an active writing and/ordrawing software session on a user browser of a computer 114 of adisplay device 106 to which the sensor 104 is connected. In someembodiments, the web server 510 of the remote system 108 may use thereceived sensor identification to identify an active writing and/ordrawing software session by finding a browser cookie that contains thesensor identification. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 mayuse a WebSocket connection between the remote system 108 and the writingand/or drawing software running on a computer 114 of a display device106. In some embodiments, when the remote system 108 receives a packetconveyed by the sensor 104, the web server 510 of the remote system 108may additionally or alternatively search the DMS 504 of the remotesystem 108 for the user identification associated with the UCidentification received in the packet conveyed by the sensor 104.

In some embodiments, after the web server 510 identifies (i) the writingand/or drawing software running on a computer 114 of a display device106 to which the sensor 104 identified by the received sensoridentification is connected and (ii) the user identification associatedwith the received UC identification, the remote system 108 may providethe writing and/or drawing software running on a computer 114 of adisplay device 106 to which the sensor 104 identified by the receivedsensor identification is connected with access to information in a useraccount associated with the user identification. In some embodiments,the remote system 108 may additionally or alternatively cause thewriting and/or drawing software running on a computer 114 of a displaydevice 106 to which the sensor 104 identified by the received sensoridentification is connected to carry out one or more actions indicatedby the packet conveyed by the sensor 104 (e.g., by an event indicationincluded in the packet). In some embodiments, the remote system 108 maycreate an open line of communication to the writing and/or drawingsoftware (e.g., via the WebSocket connection between the remote system108 and the writing and/or drawing software) triggered by a UC 102 inproximity to the sensor 104 and user input events on the UC 102. In someembodiments, the remote system 108 may allow, for example, the writingand/or drawing software running on a computer 114 of a display device106 to which the sensor 104 is connected to make available to the userall of the user's work history and settings in response to an in rangeevent that has occurred with respect to a user's UC 102. In someembodiments, the remote system 108 may cause the writing and/or drawingsoftware running on the computer 114 of the display device 106 to whichthe sensor 104 is connected to display on the display 116 of the displaydevice the user's work history, a user-specific welcome message, and/oran open drawing session in response to an in range event that hasoccurred with respect to a user's UC 102. In some embodiments, thewriting and/or drawing software may display the user-specificinformation before the user even gets to within several feet of thedisplay device 106.

In some embodiments, to maximize user control, after a sensor 104 hasdetermined that an in range event has occurred with resect a UC 102 ofone user, the writing and/or drawing software may hold one or more userswhose UCs 102 subsequently come in range of the sensor 104 in a queueaccessible from a menu provided by the writing and/or drawing software.In some embodiments, the first user may open the menu and accept one ormore of the subsequent in range users, which may allow the one or moreaccepted subsequent users to be included in the writing and/or drawingsoftware session. In some embodiments, when a writing and/or drawingsoftware session includes more than one user, the system 100 may respondto user input events from the UCs 102 of all the users included in thesession. Accordingly, some user input events, such as those that causeactions that affect the writing and/or drawing software session (e.g.,an undo operation), may affect all included users. However, other userinput events may only affect one user. For example, a user can have thecurrent state of the board saved to only that user's account. Foranother example, a copy request from a UC 102 associated with a userwould only be associated with the user of that UC 102. In someembodiments, a copy event may be handled by the writing and/or drawingsoftware capturing the current state of the board for the account of theuser associated with the UC 102 from which the copy event was generated,and the writing and/or drawing software may subsequently paste theappropriate board when a paste event comes in from a UC 102 associatedwith the user.

In some embodiments, when the UC 102 of a user comes into range of asensor 104, and the sensor 104 notifies the remote system 108 of an inrange event with respect to the UC 102, the web server 510 of the remotesystem 106 may automatically welcome the particular user associated withthe UC identification of the UC 102 by username, unlock the writingand/or drawing software, and/or wait for the user to engage with thewriting and/or drawing software. In some embodiments, when a user input208 of a UC 102 is activated (e.g., a button is pushed), the web server510 of the remote system 108 may determine what user preset action isassociated with the activated user input 208 (e.g., as identified by theuser input identification conveyed by a sensor 104 and received by theremote system 108) and transmit the preset action to the writing and/ordrawing software on the display device 106, which carries out theindicated action (e.g., toggle between pencil and eraser, undo lastmark, copy board, and paste board). In some embodiments, when a usergoes out of range (e.g., as indicated by the sensor 104 determining thatan out of range event has occurred with respect to the UC 102 of theuser), the remote system 108 may automatically cause the writing and/ordrawing software to retrieve the screen content on the display device106 and transmit it to the remote system 108. In some embodiments, theremote system 108 may then save the user's work to the user's account(e.g., using a filename made up of the user's name concatenated with thedate and local time). In some embodiments, the remote system 108 mayadditionally or alternatively automatically cause the writing and/ordrawing software to erase the screen content on the display device 106and cause the writing and/or drawing software to be locked until anotheruser comes into range of the sensor 104 (e.g., as indicated by thesensor 104 determining that an in range event has occurred with respectto a UC 102 of the user). In some embodiments, if more than one user isin range and one user leaves, the screen content may be automaticallysaved only for the leaving user, and the writing and/or drawing softwaresession may remain open as is for the remaining user(s).

3. Connecting the Sensor and the User Browser on the Display Device

In some embodiments, when a user first uses the sensor 104, the sensor104 may need to be initialized. In some embodiments, before initializingthe sensor 104, the user may log into the writing and/or drawingsoftware executed by the computer 114 of the display device 106. In someembodiments, the log on event may establish a connection between thewriting and/or drawing software on the computer 114 of the displaydevice 106 (e.g., on a user browser of the computer 114 of the displaydevice 106) and the remote system 108. In some embodiments, theconnection between the writing and/or drawing software and the remotesystem 108 may be an API connection. In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may know that the log on was made from the log on screen ofthe writing and/or drawing software (as opposed to a log on made from awebsite homepage).

In some embodiments, if the remote system 108 confirms the credentialsand determines that there is no sensor identification that identifies asensor 104 connected to the display device 106 on the computer 114 ofthe display device 106 (e.g., that there is no cookie including a sensoridentification on the browser of the computer 114 of the display device106 to which the sensor 104 is connected), the remote system 108 mayinitiate a separate session including opening a connection (e.g., aWebSocket connection) between the remote system 108 and the computer 114of the display device 106 (e.g., between the remote system 108 and auser browser on the computer 114). In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may store an identification of the display device 106 (e.g.,an IP address from which the API log in connection came or a WebSocketidentifier) along with the username associated with the log in to thewriting and/or drawing software (e.g., on the dedicated server 506 thatincludes one or more in-memory data structures for real-time datatransmission). In some embodiments, storing the identification of thedisplay device 106 and the username on remote system 108 provides theremote system 108 (e.g., the dedicated server 506) with knowledge of theuser browser on the computer 114 of the display device 106 that the useris working on and the user's name.

In some embodiments, using the connection (e.g., the API connection)between the writing and/or drawing software and the remote system 108established by the log in, the remote system 108 may cause the writingand/or drawing software to display instructions on the display 116. Insome embodiments, the remote system 108 may provide a time period (e.g.,10 minutes) during which the user must follow the instructions. In someembodiments, the writing and/or drawing software may display a countdownshowing the time remaining for the user to complete the instructions.

In some embodiments, the instructions may instruct the user to downloadthe setup application 112 (e.g., onto the setup computer 110) and log into the setup application 112 using the same credentials used to log into the writing and/or drawing software. In some embodiments, the log inevent may cause a connection (e.g., an API connection) to be establishedbetween the setup application 112 and the remote system 108 (e.g., usingthe second wireless communication interface 404 b of the setup computer110). In some embodiments, if the remote system 108 confirms thecredentials to be valid, the user is logged into the setup application112.

In some embodiments, the user may use the setup application 112 on thesetup computer 110 to select the sensor 104 connected to the displaydevice 106 that the user used to log in to the writing and/or drawingsoftware. In some embodiments, the sensor 104 connected to the displaydevice 106 on which the user is working may be the sensor 104 that isclosest to the user's setup computer 110. In some embodiments, thenearest sensor 104 may be isolated by the setup application 112 usingthe signal strength (e.g., as indicated by RSSI or RX values) from anysurrounding sensors 104. In some embodiments, when the user selects thesensor 104 connected to the display device 106 that the user is using,the setup application 112 may connect to that sensor 104 (e.g., usingthe first wireless communication interface 404 a of the setup computer110). In some embodiments, the setup application 112 may receive fromthe sensor 104 the sensor identification that identifies the sensor 104.In some embodiments, the setup application 112 may convey the receivedsensor identification to the remote system 108 (e.g., using the secondwireless communication interface 404 b of the setup computer 110).

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may receive from the setupapplication 112 the sensor identification that identifies sensor 104connected to the display device 106 that the user used to log into thewriting and/or drawing software. In some embodiments, the remote system108 may use the username received from the setup application 112 to findthe user's record in the dedicated server 506 of the remote system 108that includes one or more in-memory data structures for real-time datatransmission. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may add thereceived sensor identification to the user's record, and the IP addressof the involved computer is read from the record in the dedicated server506.

In some embodiments, using the received identification of the displaydevice 106 (e.g., an IP address from which the API log in connectioncame or a WebSocket identifier), the remote system 108 may convey thesensor identification to the display device 106. In some embodiments,the remote system 108 may convey the sensor identification in a cookiefor the user browser of the computer 114 of the display device 106.

In some embodiments, with the setup application 112 on the setupcomputer 110 still connected to the remote system 108, the remote system108 may use the sensor identification to look up password credentialsfor the sensor 104 (e.g., in the database management system 504 of theremote system 108). In some embodiments, the database management system504 of the remote system 108 may have been populated with the sensoridentifications and associated passwords (e.g., before shipping thesensors 104). In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may convey thesensor password to the setup application 112, and the setup applicationmay convey the sensor password to the sensor 104. In some embodiments,the sensor 104 may use the password to establish a communication session(e.g., an API session) with the remote system 108 for reporting activitywith UCs 102 (e.g., in range events, out of range events, and user inputevents).

In some embodiments, the remote system 108, which may have received thesensor identification from the setup application 112 along with theusername received by the remote system 108 when the user signed into thesetup application 112, may use the username to retrieve theidentification of the display device 106 (e.g., an IP address from whichthe API log in connection came or a WebSocket identifier) from thededicated server 506 of the remote system 108 that includes one or morein-memory data structures for real-time data transmission. In someembodiments, the identification of the display device 106 may inform theremote system 108 of the connection (e.g., WebSocket connection) thatwas established with the display device 106 (e.g., with a user browserof the computer 114 of the display device 106) to send the sensoridentification to the display device 106 (e.g., to the user browser in acookie). In some embodiments, the sensor identification completes thein-memory database record pairing an identification of a display device106 (e.g., an IP address or a WebSocket identifier) to a sensoridentification. In some embodiments, the sensor 104 may convey itssensor identification to the remote system 108 along with a UCidentification. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may use theconnection (e.g., the WebSocket connection) between the remote system108 and the display device 106 to cause the writing and/or drawingsoftware to take appropriate action on the display device 106 (e.g., onthe user browser's writing and/or drawing software) based on activity ofone or more UCs 102. In some embodiments, this may be accomplishedbecause the remote system 108 may use the sensor identification thatidentifies the sensor 104 to find the identification (e.g., IP addressor WebSocket identifier) of a display device 106 in the in-memorydatabase in the dedicated server 506. In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may use the identification of the display device 106 todetermine where to send the action item based on the event typeindication that the sensor 104 conveyed to the remote system 108 alongwith the sensor identification that identifies the sensor 104 and the UCidentification that identifies UC 102 and from which the associated usercan be determined.

In some embodiments, the user may repeat the initialization process ifthe user changes the display device 106 to which the sensor 104 isconnected (e.g., moves the sensor 104 to a different display device106).

In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may update the user's entryin the database for in-memory data structure to include the sensoridentification. In some embodiments, the identification of the displaydevice 106 (e.g., IP address or WebSocket identification) and the sensoridentification in this data structure may allow the remote system 108 touse the connection (e.g., WebSocket connection) to automatically respondon the writing and/or drawing software on the display device 106 whenusers come in and out of range or activate user inputs 208 on the UC102. In some embodiments, this may be possible because the UC 102 maysend to the sensor 104 transmissions that inform the sensor 104 of allpossible UC activities (e.g., identifications of the different userinputs 208) and include the UC identification of the UC 102. The sensor104 may pass the event information and UC identification, along with thesensor identification to the remote system 108. In some embodiments, theremote system 108 may use the UC identification to look up a usernameassociated with the UC identification. However, if it is a new UC 102,the remote system 108 may ask for the user's credentials to create thedatabase association between the UC identification and the user'susername. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may use the sensoridentification to retrieve the identification of the display device 106(e.g., IP address or WebSocket identifier) that the user is using and towhich the sensor 104 is connected. In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may use the sensor identification to identify a browser ofthe computer 114 of the display device 106 that the user is using and towhich the sensor 104 is connected.

4. Display Device

In some embodiments, the display device 106 may include an electronicscreen with touch technology and network connectivity (e.g., Internetconnectivity via a wired and/or wireless communication interface). Insome embodiments, the display device 106 may be used as a writing and/ordrawing surface, and the contents of the writing and/or drawing surfacemay be synchronized with the remote system 108. In some embodiments, thedisplay device 106 may allow users to write and/or draw arbitrary lineson its surface. In some embodiments, the display device 106 may providestandard tools and settings for electronic drawing boards, such as, forexample and without limitation, eraser and pencil with configurablethickness and color. In some embodiments, the display device 106 (e.g.,the computer 114 of the display device 106) may be configured to runwriting and/or drawing software. In some embodiments, the writing and/ordrawing software may run in a user browser of the computer 114 of thedisplay device 106. In some embodiments, the writing and/or drawingsoftware running on the display device 106 may be a set of web pagesserved by the web server 510 of the remote system 108.

In some embodiments, as shown in the FIG. 1, the display device 106 mayinclude one or more computers 114 and one or more displays 116. In someembodiments, the one or more displays 116 may include one or moretouchscreens. In some embodiments, as shown in the FIG. 6A, the displaydevice 106 may additionally include one or more of a power supply 602and a communication interface 604. In some embodiments, as shown in theFIG. 6A, the display 116 may include screen tiles 606. In someembodiments, the screen tiles 606 may be a set of screens that are tiledtogether. In some embodiments, the one or more computers 114 may act asa master controller that controls the operation of a display 116 havingmultiple screen tiles 606 as a single logical unit. In some embodiments,the one or more computers 114 may be connected to the remote system 108using the communication interface 604, and the one or more computers 114may handle the transfer of screen content data between the remote system108 and the display 116 (e.g., between the remote system 108 and each ofthe screen tiles 606 of the display 116).

In some embodiments, the power supply 602 may draw electrical power froman AC source, perform AC to DC conversion, and route DC power to the oneor more computers 114, the communication interface 604, and the display116. In embodiments where the display 116 includes screen tiles 606, thepower supply 602 may supply power to each of the screen tiles 606.

In some embodiments, the communication interface 604 may include one ormore of a first wireless communication interface 604 a configured tocommunicate according to a first wireless communication protocol and asecond wireless communication interface 604 b configured to communicateaccording to a second wireless communication protocol that is differentthan the first wireless communication protocol. In some embodiments, thefirst wireless communication interface 604 a may be a Bluetoothinterface, and the first wireless communication protocol may be, forexample and without limitation, a Bluetooth protocol. In someembodiments, the second wireless communication interface 604 b may be aWi-Fi interface, and the second wireless communication protocol may be aWi-Fi communication protocol (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 communicationprotocol). In some embodiments, the first and second wirelesscommunication interfaces 604 a and 604 b may include one or moreantennas. In some embodiments, the one or more computers 114 may use thecommunication interface 604 of the display device 106 to communicatewith the remote system 108 (e.g., a web server of the remote system108). In some embodiments, the one or more computers 114 may communicatewith the remote system 108 via an Internet connection using the secondwireless communication interface 604 b. In some embodiments, the one ormore computers 114 may communicate with the setup computer 110 via a BLEconnection using the first wireless communication interface 604 a (e.g.,for configuring the access credentials for the local Wi-Fi network). Insome embodiments, when an Internet connection (e.g., Wi-Fi connection)is in place, the one or more computers 114 may connect to the remotesystem 108, which may provide online storage for user drawings, so thatthese drawings can be synchronized between the display device 106 andthe remote system 108.

In some embodiments, the screen tiles 606 may be attached to amechanical structure of the display device 106. In some embodiments, thedisplay device 106 may be a vertical structure that can be fixed to aninterior wall of a building. In some embodiments, the display device 106may include an outer frame (e.g., a rectangular frame) that covers theouter borders of the display device 106 to hold the structure (e.g.,screen tiles 606) of the display device 106 together. In someembodiments, the outer frame may include vertical arms and horizontalarms. In some embodiments, the mechanical structure may includehorizontal bars attached to the vertical arms of the outer frame. Insome embodiments, the horizontal bars may run through the width of thedisplay 116 in the horizontal direction. In some embodiments, the numberof horizontal bars may be equal to the number of the rows of screentiles 606 minus one. In some embodiments, the horizontal bars, alongwith the horizontal and vertical arms of the outer frame, may provide amechanically stable attachment surface for the screen tiles 606 of thedisplay 116.

In some embodiments, the screen tiles 606 may be attached to the frameand horizontal bars of the mechanical structure in an array includingone or more rows and one or more columns of screen tiles 606. In someembodiments, each of the screen tiles 606 in the uppermost row of screentiles 606 may be attached to the upper horizontal arm of the frame atthe upper edge of the screen tile 606 (e.g., at the upper corners of thescreen tile 606) and to a horizontal bar at the lower edge of the screentile 606 (e.g., at the lower corners of the screen tile 606). In someembodiments, each of the screen tiles 606 in the lowermost row of screentiles 606 may be attached to a horizontal bar at the upper edge of thescreen tile 606 (e.g., at the upper corners of the screen tile 606) andto the lower horizontal arm of the frame at the lower edge of the screentile 606 (e.g., at the lower corners of the screen tile 606). In someembodiments, each of the screen tiles 606 in one or more rows of screentiles 606 other than the uppermost and lowermost rows may be attached toa horizontal bar at the upper edge of the screen tile 606 (e.g., at theupper corners of the screen tile 606) and to a horizontal bar at thelower edge of the screen tile 606 (e.g., at the lower corners of thescreen tile 606). In some embodiments, the screen tiles 606 may beattached to the mechanical structure such that there is no space betweenneighboring screen tiles 606. In some embodiments, because each screentile 606 shares with its neighboring screen tiles 606 one or moreattachment surfaces, the edges of neighboring screen tiles 606 may beperfectly aligned to each other in the direction orthogonal to thescreen, so that the entire screen appears as a smooth surface with nosharp edges between tiles. In some embodiments, one or more cover layers(e.g., one or more thin cover layers) may be mounted over the array ofscreen tiles 606 of the display 116. In some embodiments, the screentiles 606 may have no bezel, and the display and touch-sensitive surfaceof each screen tile 606 may cover the entire area of the screen tile606. In some embodiments, the mechanical structure may prevent or reducethe occurrence of user-perceived discontinuities in the surface of thearray of screen tiles 606 of the display 116.

In some embodiments, the screen tiles 606 may be electronic displayswith touch input technology. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6B, ascreen tile 606 may include a master controller interface 608, a tilecontroller 610, one or more neighbor tile interfaces 612, a power supply614, a display controller 616, a tile display 618, a touch controller620, and/or one or more touch sensors 622. In some embodiments, the tilecontroller 610 may send pixel data to the display controller 616, whichmay control the tile display 618 to display the pixel data. In someembodiments, the power supply 614 of a screen tile 606 may be a wiredconnection to the power supply 602 of the display device 106. In someembodiments, the tile controller 610 may process touch input eventsreceived from a touch controller 620, which receives the touch sensordata output from the one or more touch sensors 622. In some embodiments,the touch sensor data output from the one or more touch sensors 622 mayindicate whether a tip of a stylus pen (e.g., a tip 212 of a pen 102A)is at the surface of the tile display 618. In some embodiments, themaster controller interface 608 may connect the tile controller 610 withthe one or more computers 114 of the display device 106. In someembodiments, the master controller interface 608 may be used to transferscreen contents and metadata between the one or more computers 114 andthe tile controller 610.

In some embodiments, the one or more neighbor tile interfaces 612 may bebi-directional communication interfaces that connect directly the tilecontroller 610 with the tile controller 610 of each of the neighboringscreen tiles 606. In some embodiments, the screen tile 606 may include aseparate neighbor tile interface 612 for each of the neighboring screentiles 606. In some embodiments, the screen tile 606 may have a number ofneighbor tile interfaces 612 that depends on the number of neighboringscreen tiles 606 the screen tile 606 will have. In some embodiments, thenumber of neighboring screen tiles 606 that a screen tile 606 will havemay depend on the position of the screen tile 606 in the array of screentiles 606 in the display 116. In some embodiments, the screen tiles 606at the four corners of the array of screen tiles 606 may have threeneighboring screen tiles 606 each and, thus, may each have threeneighbor tile interfaces 612. In some embodiments, the screen tiles 606in the uppermost and lowermost rows and in the leftmost and rightmostcolumns of the array of screen tiles 606 (other than the four screentiles 606 at the corners) may have five neighboring screen tiles 606each and, thus, may each have five neighbor tile interfaces 612. In someembodiments, the remaining screen tiles 606 (e.g., the screen tiles 606that are in none of the uppermost and lowermost rows and the leftmostand rightmost columns of the array of screen tiles 606) may have eightneighboring screen tiles 606 each and, thus, may each have eightneighbor tile interfaces 612. In some alternative embodiments, each ofthe screen tiles 606 may include eight neighbor tile interfaces 612(even though they may not all be connected to neighboring screen tiles606) so that the screen tiles 606 may be used interchangeably in anyposition of the array of screen tiles 606.

In some embodiments, the tile controller 610 may handle touch input fromthe user (e.g., received via the one or more touch sensors 622 and thetouch controller 620) and update the screen contents (e.g., via thedisplay controller 616 and the tile display 618) according toinstructions received from the one or more computers 114, which may actas a master controller. In some embodiments, depending on the currentscreen layout and the location of touch input events, the tilecontroller 610 may handle a touch input locally (e.g., withoutcommunicating the touch event to either of the one or more computers 114and the neighboring screen tiles 606) or may communicate the touch eventto the one or more computers 114 and/or the neighboring screen tiles606. For example, in some embodiments, the tile controller 610 mayhandle a touch input locally when the user is drawing on the screen aline that is only within, and not near the boundary of, a single screentile 606 (e.g., by using the display controller 616 to light pixels ofthe tile display 618 passed over by a tip of a stylus pen). In someembodiments, the tile controller 610 may communicate touch events to theone or more computers 114 and/or the neighboring screen tiles 606 whenthe touch events trigger an action that must be executed not just by thesingle screen tile 606 but also by other components (e.g., by one ormore neighboring screen tiles 606 and/or by the one or more computers114).

In some embodiments, the one or more computers 114 (e.g., firmwareand/or an operating system running on one or more computers 114) may beaware of the relative positions of the screen tiles 606 and mayimplement bi-directional communication with each individual screen tile606 (e.g., via the master controller interfaces 608 of the screen tiles606). In some embodiments, the master controller interfaces 608 of thescreen tiles 606 may be wired interfaces, and the one or more computers114 may be connected via the wired interface to the tile controller 610of each screen tile 606. In some embodiments, the one or more computers114 may transfer screen contents from the remote system 108 to thescreen tiles 606 (e.g., during an operation to open a saved board), andthe one or more computers 114 may transfer screen contents from thescreen tiles 606 to the remote system 108 (e.g., during a board saveoperation). In some embodiments, the one or more computers 114 mayconvey metadata to and receive metadata from tile controllers 610 of thescreen tiles 606. For example, in some embodiments, the one or morecomputers 114 may convey instructions to the tile controllers 610 of thescreen tiles 606 (e.g., on how to handle user touch input in each partof the display 116). For another example, in some embodiments, the tilecontrollers 610 of the screen tiles 606 may send specific touch inputevents to the one or more computers 114.

In some embodiments, two examples in which the one or more computers 114of the display device 106 transfers screen contents between the one ormore computers 114 and the tile controllers 610 of the screen tiles 606are for the opening and saving of user files. In some embodiments, whena user opens a file stored in the user's online account on remote system108 to display the file contents on the display device 106, the one ormore computers 114 may retrieve the file from the remote system 108,partition the image to be displayed into tiles according to the geometryand arrangement of the screen tiles 606, and send to each tilecontroller 610 of the screen tiles 606 the relevant part of the image.In some embodiments, when a user saves the screen contents to a file intheir online account on the remote system 108, each tile controller 610of the screen tiles 606 sends to the one or more computers 114 thescreen contents of each of the screen tiles 606, and the one or morecomputers 114 piece screen contents from each of the screen tiles 606together, creates a file including the combined screen contents, andthen sends the file to the remote system 108.

In some embodiments, the one or more computers 114 may transfer metadatafrom/to a tile controller 610, for example and without limitation, whenthe screen layout is initialized or modified and/or when user settingsare changed. For example, in some embodiments, during screeninitialization, the one or more computers 114 may instruct the tilecontrollers 610 of the screen tiles 606 in the uppermost row of thearray of screen tiles 606 to display a toolbar at the top of the screenand use the remaining part of the tile surface as a drawing surface, andthe one or more computers 114 may instruct the tile controllers 610 ofall other screen tiles 606 to use their entire surface as a drawingsurface. For another example, in some embodiments, when the user changesthe settings associated to the currently used tool (e.g., when changingthe line thickness of the pencil tool) or switches to a different tool(e.g., from pencil to eraser), the one or more computers 114 may sendthis information to each tile controller 610 of the screen tiles 606, sothat the tile controllers 610 will react to user input according to thenew settings. In some embodiments, the tile controller 610 of a screentile 606 may transfer metadata to the one or more computers 114 when theuser interacts with specific user interface elements on the screen tile606 (e.g., when the user touches a button on the toolbar, the screentile 606 where the button is displayed may send to the one or morecomputers 114 an event that signals the button press).

In some embodiments, the tile controller 610 of a screen tile 606 mayuse the one or more neighbor tile interfaces 612 of the screen tile 606to send touch input events that are received by the local touchcontroller 620 (i.e., the touch controller 620 of the screen tile 606)but should also trigger a screen update in one or more neighboring tiles606 to the one or more neighboring tiles 606 in which the screen updateshould be triggered. For example, in some embodiments, if the user isdrawing on the display 116 a line near the border between two screentiles 606, depending on the line thickness, some parts of the line mayneed to be displayed on a screen tile 606 different from the screen tile606 that receives the touch input. In some embodiments, in thisscenario, the screen tile 606 that receives the touch input may send thecoordinates of the input events to the neighboring screen tile 606, andthe neighboring screen tile 606 may update its screen contents with therelevant parts of the line being drawn. In some embodiments, all tilecontrollers 610 in the display 116 may be aware of the current settingssuch as line thickness and color, which may be communicated by the oneor more computers 114 during initialization and every time a setting ismodified.

In some embodiments, depending on the location of touch input relativeto the borders between adjacent screen tiles 606, a given touch eventmay need to be handled by up to four screen tiles 606. In someembodiments, the tile controller 610 of the screen tile 606 thatreceives the event may determine which neighboring screen tiles 606 (ifany) should be notified of the event, and the tile controller 610 maysend the relevant touch event information to the relevant neighboringscreen tiles 606.

5. Computer and/or Controller Architecture

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an apparatus 701 for implementing theremote system 108, the setup computer 110, the one or more computers 114of the display device 106, the controller 216 of a UC 102, and/or thecontroller 304 of a sensor 104, according to some embodiments. That is,the apparatus 701 can be adapted to perform the methods disclosedherein. As shown in FIG. 7, the apparatus 701 may include processingcircuitry (PC) 702, which may include one or more processors (P) 755(e.g., one or more general purpose microprocessors and/or one or moreother processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and the like), whichprocessors 755 may be co-located in a single housing or in a single datacenter or may be geographically distributed. In some embodiments, asshown in FIG. 7, the apparatus 701 may include one or more storage units(a.k.a., “data storage systems”) 708 which may be co-located orgeographically distributed and which may include one or morenon-volatile storage devices and/or one or more volatile storagedevices. In some embodiments where the PC 702 includes a programmableprocessor, the one or more storage units may include a computer programproduct (CPP) 741. In some embodiments, the CPP 741 may include acomputer readable medium (CRM) 742 storing a computer program (CP) 743comprising computer readable instructions (CRI) 744. In someembodiments, the CRM 742 may be a non-transitory computer readablemedium, such as, magnetic media (e.g., a hard disk), optical media,memory devices (e.g., random access memory, flash memory), and the like.In some embodiments, the CRI 744 of the computer program 743 is adaptedsuch that when executed by the PC 702, the CRI 741 may cause apparatus701 to perform steps described herein (e.g., steps described herein withreference to the flow charts). In other embodiments, the apparatus 701may be adapted to perform steps described herein without the need forcode. That is, for example, the PC 702 may consist merely of one or moreASICs. Hence, the features of the embodiments described herein may beimplemented in hardware and/or software.

6. Flowcharts

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a process 800 according to somenon-limiting embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, thesensor 104 (e.g., the controller 304 of the sensor 104) may perform oneor more steps of the process 800.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include astep 802 in which the sensor 104 determines whether a packet conveyed bya UC 102 was received by the sensor 104 (e.g., using the communicationinterface 308 of the sensor 104). In some embodiments, a packet conveyedby a UC 102 may include a UC identifier that identifies the UC 102 thatconveyed the packet. In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 received apacket that was conveyed by a UC 102, the process 800 may proceed fromthe step 802 to a step 804. In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 didnot receive a packet that was conveyed by a UC 102, the process 800 mayproceed from the step 802 to a step 814.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include astep 804 in which the sensor 104 determines whether an in range eventhas occurred with respect to the UC 102 that conveyed the packetreceived by the sensor 104. In some embodiments, determining that the inrange event has occurred with respect to the UC 102 that conveyed thepacket received by the sensor 104 may include (i) determining that theUC identification that identifies the UC 102 is not in a list of UCidentifications for current in range UCs and (ii) determining that an inrange condition is met for the UC. In some embodiments, the sensor 104may determine that the in range condition is met for the UC 102 if thesensor 104 receives one or more packets that include the UCidentification that identifies the UC 102. In some alternativeembodiments, the sensor 104 may determine that the in range condition ismet for the UC 102 if the sensor 104 receives one or more packets thatinclude the UC identification that identifies the UC 102 and have asignal strength that is above an in range signal strength threshold.

In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 determines that an in range eventhas occurred with respect to the UC 102 that conveyed the packetreceived by the sensor 104, the process 800 may proceed from the step804 to a step 806. In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 does notdetermine that an in range event has occurred with respect to the UC 102that conveyed the packet received by the sensor 104, the process 800 mayproceed from the step 804 to a step 808.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include astep 806 in which the sensor 104 conveys a packet with an in-range eventindication (e.g., using the communication interface 308 of the sensor104). In some embodiments, the conveyed packet may include the UCidentification that identifies the UC 102 that conveyed the packetreceived by the sensor 104, a sensor identification that identifies thesensor 104, and an indication that an in range event occurred. In someembodiments, the step 806 may include adding the UC identification thatidentifies the UC 102 for which the in range event occurred to the listof UC identifications for current in range UCs. In some embodiments, theprocess 800 may proceed from the step 806 to a step 814.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include astep 808 in which the sensor 104 determines whether a user input eventhas occurred with respect to the UC 102 that conveyed the packetreceived by the sensor 104. In some embodiments, the sensor 104 maydetermine that a user input event has occurred with respect to the UC102 that conveyed the packet received by the sensor 104 if the packetincludes a user input indication. In some embodiments, the user inputindication may include an identification of a user input 208 of the UC102 that conveyed the packet including the user input indication. Insome embodiments, the user input indication may indicate that the userinput 208 was activated.

In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 determines that a user inputevent has occurred with respect to the UC 102 that conveyed the packetreceived by the sensor 104, the process 800 may proceed from the step808 to a step 810. In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 does notdetermine that a user input event has occurred with respect to the UC102 that conveyed the packet received by the sensor 104, the process 800may proceed from the step 808 to a step 814 (or to an optional step812).

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include astep 810 in which the sensor 104 conveys a packet with a user inputevent indication (e.g., using the communication interface 308 of thesensor 104). In some embodiments, the conveyed packet may include the UCidentification that identifies the UC 102 that conveyed the packet andwas included in the received packet, the sensor identification thatidentifies the sensor 104, and the user input indication received in thepacket. In some embodiments, the process 800 may proceed from the step810 to a step 814.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include anoptional step 812 in which the sensor 104 conveys a signal strengthtraining packet (e.g., using the communication interface 308 of thesensor 104). In some embodiments, the signal strength training packetmay contain the sensor identification that identifies the sensor 104 anda signal strength value (e.g., an RSSI or RX value) of the packetconveyed by the UC 102 and received by the sensor 104. In someembodiments, the signal strength training packet may also contain the UCidentifier that identifies the UC 102 that conveyed the packet and wasreceived in the packet conveyed by the UC 102. In some embodiments, theprocess 800 may proceed from the step 812 to a step 814.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include astep 814 in which the sensor 104 determines whether an out of rangeevent has occurred with respect to a UC 102. In some embodiments, theout of range event determination may be performed with respect to eachUC 102 for which the sensor 104 (i) determined an in range event to haveoccurred and (ii) did not subsequently determine an out of range eventto have occurred. In some embodiments, the out of range determinationmay be performed for each UC 102 having a UC identification in the listof UC identifications for current in range UCs.

In some embodiments, determining that an out of range event has occurredwith respect to a UC 102 in step 814 may include determining that an outof range condition is met for the UC 102. In some embodiments, thesensor 104 may determine that the out of range condition is met for theUC 102 if the sensor 104 does not receive any packets that include theUC identification that identifies the UC 102 for a threshold amount oftime, for each of N consecutive transmission periods, or for at least Mof N consecutive transmission periods. In some alternative embodiments,the sensor 104 may determine that the out of range condition is met forthe UC 102 if the sensor 104 does not receive any packets that includethe UC identification that identifies the UC 102 and have a signalstrength that is above an out of range signal strength threshold for athreshold amount of time, for each of N consecutive transmissionperiods, or for at least M of N consecutive transmission periods. Insome embodiments, determining that the out of range event has occurredwith respect to the UC 102 may further include determining that the UCidentification for the UC 102 is in the list of UC identifications forcurrent in range UCs.

In some embodiments, determining that the out of range event hasoccurred with respect to the UC 102 may further include reducing falseout of range events. In some embodiments, determining that the out ofrange event has occurred with respect to the UC 102 may further includedetermining that a distribution of changes in signal strength of packetsreceived from the UC 102 immediately prior to the UC 102 going out ofrange of the sensor 104 is within a threshold amount (e.g., 200%) of onestandard deviation from a mean distribution of changes in signalstrength of packets received by the sensor 104 from UCs 102 immediatelypreceding the UCs 102 going out of range of the sensor in true out ofrange events. In some embodiments, determining that the out of rangeevent has occurred with respect to the UC 102 may further include, if adistribution of changes in signal strength of packets received from theUC 102 immediately prior to the UC 102 going out of range of the sensoris determined to be not within a threshold amount of one standarddeviation from a mean distribution of changes in signal strength ofpackets received by the sensor 104 from UCs 102 immediately precedingthe UCs 102 going out of range of the sensor in true out of rangeevents, determining that the UC 102 does not reestablish communicationwith the sensor 104 within the predetermined amount of time.

In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 determines that an out of rangeevent has occurred with respect to a UC 102, the process 800 may proceedfrom the step 814 to a step 816. In some embodiments, if the sensor 104does not determine that out of range event has occurred with respect toa UC 102, the process 800 may proceed from the step 814 back to the step802 (or to an optional step 818).

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include astep 816 in which the sensor 104 conveys a packet with an out of rangeevent indication (e.g., using the communication interface 308 of thesensor 104). In some embodiments, the conveyed packet may include the UCidentification that identifies the UC 102 for which the out of rangeevent occurred, a sensor identification that identifies the sensor 104,and an indication that an out of range event occurred. In someembodiments, the step 816 may include removing the UC identificationthat identifies the UC 102 for which the out of range event occurredfrom the list of UC identifications for current in range UCs. In someembodiments, the process 800 may proceed from the step 816 back to thestep 802 (or to an optional step 818).

In some alternative embodiments, instead of including the optional step812 in which the sensor 104 conveys a signal strength training packetafter a packet from a UC 102, the sensor 104 may wait until the sensor104 determines in step 814 that an out of range event has occurred withrespect to a UC 102 to conveys signal strength training information.That is, in some alternative embodiments, the step 816 may includeconveying signal strength information to the remote system 108. In someembodiments, the signal strength information may include the sensoridentification that identifies the sensor 104 and a signal strengthvalues (e.g., an RSSI or RX value) of the packets conveyed by the UC 102and received by the sensor 104 in a period of time, such as 1 second,before sensor 104 determined an out of range event to have occurred. Insome embodiments, the signal strength information may be sent in thesame packet that includes the indication that an out of range eventoccurred. In some alternative embodiments, the signal strengthinformation may be sent in step 816 in one or more packets separate fromthe packet that includes the indication that an out of range eventoccurred.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include anoptional step 818 in which the sensor 104 determines whether a packetconveyed by the remote system 108 was received by the sensor 104 (e.g.,using the communication interface 308 of the sensor 104). In someembodiments, a packet conveyed by the remote system 108 may includeinformation for reducing the occurrence of false out of range events. Insome embodiments, the information for reducing the occurrence of falseout of range events may include a standard deviation and a meandistribution of changes in signal strength of packets received by thesensor 104 from UCs 102 immediately preceding the UCs 102 going out ofrange of the sensor in true out of range events. In some embodiments, ifthe sensor 104 received a packet that was conveyed by the remote system108, the process 800 may proceed from the step 818 to an optional step820. In some embodiments, if the sensor 104 did not receive a packetthat was conveyed by the remote system 108, the process 800 may proceedfrom the step 818 back to the step 802.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the process 800 may include anoptional step 820 in which the sensor 104 updates the out of range eventdetermination performed in step 814 based on the information forreducing the occurrence of false out of range events. In someembodiments, the process 800 may proceed from the step 820 back to thestep 802.

In some embodiments, although FIG. 8 shows the steps of the process 800in a particular order, the particular order is not required, and, insome alternative embodiments, one or more of the steps may be performedin a different order. For example, in some embodiments, the step 804 inwhich the sensor 104 determines whether an in range event has occurredwith respect to the UC 102 that conveyed the packet received by thesensor 104 may be performed after the step 808 in which the sensor 104determines whether a user input event has occurred with respect to theUC 102 that conveyed the packet received by the sensor 104. In addition,in some alternative embodiments, the process 800 may include fewer ormore steps than those shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a process 900 according to somenon-limiting embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, theremote system 108 (e.g., a controller of the remote system 108) may beadapted to perform one or more steps of the process 900.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, the process 900 may include astep 902 in which the remote system 108 determines whether a packet(e.g., a WebSocket packet) conveyed by a sensor 104 was received by theremote system 108. In some embodiments, a packet conveyed by a sensor104 may include a sensor identification that identifies the sensor 104that conveyed the packet, a UC identifier that identifies a UC 102 towhich the packet pertains, and an event indication. In some embodiments,the remote system 108 may save the received packet (e.g., the web server510 of the remote system 108 may save the incoming data on the dedicatedserver 506 that includes one or more in-memory data structures forreal-time data transmission).

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, the process 900 may include astep 904 in which the remote system 108 identifies a display device 106.In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may identify a display device106 using the received the sensor identification in the received packet.In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may identify the displaydevice 106 to which the sensor 104 identified by the sensoridentification is connected. In some embodiments, the remote system 108may identify the display device 106 by identifying an applicationrunning on a computer 114 of the display device 106. In someembodiments, the application running on the computer 114 of the displaydevice 106 may be the writing and/or drawing software running on thedisplay device 106 (e.g., on the computer 114 of the display device106). In some embodiments, the application may be a web applicationrunning in a web browser of the computer 114 of the display device 106to which the sensor 104 identified by the sensor identification isconnected. In some embodiments, the application (e.g., the writingand/or drawing software) may run on a user browser of the computer 114.In some embodiments, the application (e.g., the writing and/or drawingsoftware) running on display device 106 may be continuously connected tothe remote system 108 (e.g., the web server 510 on the remote system108). In some embodiments, the application on the display device 106 maybe connected to the remote system 108 using a WebSocket connection(e.g., a Websocket connection that is distinct from the WebSocketconnection between the sensor 104 and the remote system 108). In someembodiments, the remote system 108 (e.g., the web server 510 of theremote system 108) may use the received sensor identification toidentify an active writing and/or drawing software session on a userbrowser of a computer 114 of a display device 106 to which the sensor104 is connected. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may use thereceived sensor identification to identify an active writing and/ordrawing software session by finding a browser cookie that contains thesensor identification.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, the process 900 may include astep 905 in which the remote system 108 uses the UC identification todetermine a user identification with which the UC identification isassociated. In some embodiments, in step 905, the web server 510 of theremote system 108 may search the DMS 504 of the remote system 108 forthe user identification associated with the UC identification receivedin the packet conveyed by the sensor 104.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, the process 900 may include astep 906 in which the remote system 108 determines whether the receivedevent indication is for an in range event. In some embodiments, if theremote system 108 determines that the event indication is for an inrange event, the process 900 may proceed from the step 906 to a step908. In some embodiments, in the step 908, the remote system 108 mayprovide the display device 106 (e.g., the application running on acomputer 114 of the display device 106) with access to information in auser account associated with the user identification determined in step905. In some embodiments, the information in the user account associatedwith the user identification determined in the step 905 may include oneor more files including previous writing and/or drawing content. In someembodiments, in the step 908, the remote system 108 may cause theapplication (e.g., the writing and/or drawing software) running on thedisplay device 106 to which the sensor 104 identified by the sensoridentification is connected to display a welcome message including ausername associated with the user identification determined in step 905.In some embodiments, the information in the user account associated withthe determined user identification may include one or more settings forthe application running on the computer 114 of the display device 106 towhich the sensor 104 is connected, and, in the step 908, the remotesystem 108 may cause the application to apply the user settings.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, the process 900 may include astep 910 in which the remote system 108 determines whether the receivedevent indication is for an out of range event. In some embodiments, ifthe remote system 108 determines that the event indication is for an outof range event, the process 900 may proceed from the step 910 to a step912. In some embodiments, in the step 912, the remote system 108 maycause the application (e.g., the writing and/or drawing software)running on the display device 106 to return current writing and/ordrawing content. In some embodiments, the current writing and/or drawingcontent may be the content displayed by the display 116 of the displaydevice 106. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may receive thecurrent writing and/or drawing content. In some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may save the received current writing and/or drawing contentin the user account associated with the user identification determinedin step 905. In some embodiments, in the step 910, the remote system 108may cause the application (e.g., the writing and/or drawing software) toerase the writing and/or drawing content displayed on the display 116 ofthe display device 106. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 mayonly erase the writing and/or drawing content if the UC 102 identifiedby the received UC identification is the only in range UC 102 (e.g.,because no in range events occurred with respect to other UCs 102 thatwere not followed by out of range events with respect to those UCs 102).In some embodiments, in this case, the user associated with the receivedUC identification is the only in range user. In some embodiments, if theremote system 108 determines that another UC 102 is in range of thesensor 104, the remote system 108 may not cause the current writingand/or drawing content on the display 116 of the display device 106 tobe erased. Instead, if the remote system 108 determines that another UC102 is in range of the sensor 104, the remote system 108 may continue todisplay the current writing and/or drawing content to the remaininguser(s). In some embodiments, in the step 910, the remote system 108 maycause the application (e.g., the writing and/or drawing software) tolock itself. In some embodiments, the remote system 108 may only lockthe application if the UC 102 identified by the received UCidentification is the only in range UC 102.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, the process 900 may include astep 914 in which the remote system 108 determines whether the receivedevent indication is for a user input event. In some embodiments, if theremote system 108 determines that the event indication is for a userinput event, the process 900 may proceed from the step 914 to a step916. In some embodiments, in the step 916, the remote system 108 maydetermine an action associated with the event indication. In someembodiments, an event indication that is for a user input event mayinclude an identification of a user input 208 (e.g., button) of the UC102 identified by the UC identification. In some embodiments, the actionassociated with the event indication may be determined based on theidentification of the user input 208 of the UC 102 identified by the UCidentification.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, the process 900 may include astep 918 in which the remote system 108 causes the application (e.g.,the writing and/or drawing software) to perform the determined action.In some embodiments, the determined action may, for example and withoutlimitation, be one of toggle between pencil and eraser, undo last mark,copy board, and paste board.

In some embodiments, although FIG. 9 shows the steps of the process 900in a particular order, the particular order is not required, and, insome alternative embodiments, one or more of the steps may be performedin a different order. For example, in some embodiments, the remotesystem 108 may identify the user identification in the step 905 beforethe remote system 108 identifies the display device 106 in the step 904.In addition, in some alternative embodiments, the process 900 mayinclude fewer or more steps than those shown in FIG. 9.

Aspects of the present invention have been fully described above withreference to the drawing figures. Although the invention has beendescribed based upon these preferred aspects, it would be apparent tothose of skill in the art that certain modifications, variations, andalternative constructions could be made to the described aspects withinthe spirit and scope of the invention.

For example, in some alternative embodiments, the system 100 mayadditionally or alternatively include one or more UCs 102 that arededicated to a display device 106, remain in the proximity of a sensor104, and are in communication with the sensor 104 for the reporting userinput events from the one or more dedicated UCs 102. For yet anotherexample, a smartphone or tablet that includes a wireless communicationinterface may be used as a UC 102 (instead of a pen or pocket device)and communicate with the sensor 104 (e.g., using the smartphone'sBluetooth) to indicate that the smartphone or tablet is in range of thesensor 104 and/or to communicate one or more user input events to thesensor 104.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system adapted to: receive a user controller(UC) identification that identifies a UC, a sensor identification thatidentifies a sensor, and an event indication that indicates that anevent occurred; use the sensor identification to identify an applicationrunning on a computer of a display device to which the sensor isconnected; use the UC identification to determine a user identificationwith which the UC identification is associated; determine whether theevent indication is for an in range event; if the event indication isdetermined to be for an in range event, provide the application withaccess to information in a user account associated with the useridentification; receive the UC identification, the sensoridentification, and a second event indication that indicates that asecond event occurred; determine whether the second event indication isfor an out of range event; if the second event indication is determinedto be for an out of range event, cause the application to return currentwriting and/or drawing content; receive the current writing and/ordrawing content; and save the current writing and/or drawing content inthe user account associated with the user identification.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the application is a web application running in aweb browser of the computer of the display device to which the sensor isconnected.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the information in the useraccount associated with the user identification comprises one or moresettings for the application running on the computer of the displaydevice to which the sensor is connected, and the system is furtheradapted to cause the application to apply the user settings.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the information in the user accountassociated with the user identification comprises one or more filesincluding previous writing and/or drawing content.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to, if the eventindication is determined to be for an in range event, cause theapplication to display a welcome message including a username associatedwith the determined user identification.
 6. The system of claim 1,further adapted to, if the second event indication is determined to befor an out of range event, cause the application to erase the currentwriting and/or drawing content.
 7. The system of claim 1, furtheradapted to, if the second event indication is determined to be for anout of range event, cause the application to lock itself.
 8. The systemof claim 1, further adapted to: determine whether the second eventindication is for a user input event; if the second event indication isdetermined to be for a user input event, determine an action associatedwith the second event indication; and cause the application to performthe determined action.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the secondevent indication that is for a user input event comprises anidentification of a user input of the UC, and the action associated withthe second event indication is determined based on the identification ofthe user input of the UC.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the userinput of the UC is a button of the UC.
 11. The system of claim 8,wherein the determined action is one of toggle between pencil anderaser, undo last mark, copy board, and paste board.
 12. A methodcomprising: receiving a user controller (UC) identification thatidentifies a UC, a sensor identification that identifies a sensor, andan event indication that indicates that an event occurred; using thesensor identification to identify an application running on a computerof a display device to which the sensor is connected; using the UCidentification to determine a user identification with which the UCidentification is associated; determining whether the event indicationis for an in range event; if the event indication is determined to befor an in range event, providing the application with access toinformation in a user account associated with the user identification;receiving the UC identification, the sensor identification, and a secondevent indication that indicates that a second event occurred;determining whether the second event indication is for an out of rangeevent; if the second event indication is determined to be for an out ofrange event, causing the application to return current writing and/ordrawing content; receiving the current writing and/or drawing content;and saving the current writing and/or drawing content in the useraccount associated with the user identification.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein the application is a web application running in a webbrowser of the computer of the display device to which the sensor isconnected.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the information in theuser account associated with the user identification comprises one ormore settings for the application running on the computer of the displaydevice to which the sensor is connected, and the method furthercomprises causing the application to apply the user settings.
 15. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the information in the user accountassociated with the user identification comprises one or more filesincluding previous writing and/or drawing content.
 16. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising, if the event indication is determined tobe for an in range event, causing the application to display a welcomemessage including a username associated with the determined useridentification.
 17. The method of claim 12, further comprising, if thesecond event indication is determined to be for an out of range event,causing the application to erase the current writing and/or drawingcontent.
 18. The method of claim 12, further comprising, if the secondevent indication is determined to be for an out of range event, causingthe application to lock itself.
 19. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: determining whether the second event indication is for auser input event; if the second event indication is determined to be fora user input event, determining an action associated with the secondevent indication; and causing the application to perform the determinedaction.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second event indicationthat is for a user input event comprises an identification of a userinput of the UC, and the action associated with the second eventindication is determined based on the identification of the user inputof the UC.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user input of the UCis a button of the UC.
 22. The method of claim 19, wherein thedetermined action is one of toggle between pencil and eraser, undo lastmark, copy board, and paste board.